I am utterly suicidally depressed today. The last four days  have been spent in tropical North Queensland, where in winter it’s a perfect blue-skied 27°C with sea breezes lolling me to sleep (in bed, on the balcony, in the hammock, anywhere). But that’s not even why I’m suicidal. We spent the four days with my family, including my beautiful 16 month old niece who’s just started walking and talking (OMGCUTE) and now that I’m home I miss her with a heart ache that I haven’t felt since… since the last time I left her.

Gah, how a little person does this to me, I don’t know. BIG SAD FACE anyway.

Oh hai.

Anyway, I suppose it’s good that I’m back in Sydney. Hanging out with my dad always poses a very real risk of explosion from over-eating. He’s the father of all feeders (I am, indeed, also a mini-feeder) and will feed you until you literally feel the skin on your stomach pull taut, and then he’ll ask if you want some fruit for dessert. But I’m not complaining, we had some awesome home cooked food over the weekend, including assam fish and chicken casserole and this dish – guan chiang – which my dad made for breakfast on Friday.

Guan chiang is basically a Chinese vegetarian beancurd roll. I can’t find any reference to its name on the web, so there is a high chance that guan chiang is either (a) a made up name or (b) traditional only to a small part of Malaysia where he grew up. I don’t know and I’m not anthropologically savvy enough to find out. In any case, guan chiangs can be had simply steamed, or steamed and then fried, which is my preferred choice (duh).

After deep frying the guan chiang, my dad declared “this is a healthy breakfast!” and I’m like… yes, I am his daughter. Besides, there is radish in the roll. Doesn’t that count for your one in five?

Guan chiang (Chinese vegetarian bean curd roll)
200 grams raw peanuts, soaked overnight
750 grams fresh yam or taro, finely grated
750 grams white radish or yam bean, finely grated
1 cup corn flour
1 cup rice flour
5 sheets soft bean curd skin
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying
  1. Soak the raw peanuts overnight. When ready to use, drain and add to a large bowl.
  2. Add the yam/taro, white radish/yam bean, corn flour and rice flour to the large bowl and mix well. Do not add any water.
  3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Split the filling into approximately 5 portions and roll in beancurd skin to create rolls about 4-5cm thick.
  5. Steam the rolls whole for 30 mins, then set aside and let cool.
  6. Cut the rolls into 1 inch thick slices, diagonally.
  7. The guan chiang can be eaten this way (just steamed) or if preferred, deep fry in hot oil.
  8. Serve with chilli sauce.
Makes 5 rolls, approximately 50 pieces.

15 Thoughts on “recipe | guan chiang (Chinese vegetarian bean curd roll)

  1. You are so lucky to live (relatively) close to your parents! I’ve give anything to be able to visit my family for just a long weekend every now and then 🙁

    This is such an interesting recipe. I don’t think I’ve ever tried anything like it! And it’s VEGAN! 😉

  2. I’ve never seen this anywhere else, but it really brings back memories of our times in bm!

  3. Zomg yum! A “Healthy” version of loh bak, I love it! 🙂

    xox Sarah

  4. Aw, your niece is so adorable, and I can testify your Dad certainly is an amazing cook. No wonder you’re all hearthachy. All I can suggest is to… eat cake? xo

  5. You should move to Brisbane. Much closer.

  6. MC: Maybe it’s just a BM thing? The only other person who’s recognised this is a friend of mine from UK.. who is from BM!!

    Sarah: Healthy.. and then deep fried. YEAH!

    Mel C: She is she is! Sorry we didn’t come to Brissie this time but next time will hopefully be Bris! I miss you, McMuffin! I shall eat cake and think of you. Big four layered pink Princess cake 🙂

    KBQ: Yes yes, I know.

  7. OMG what an awesome recipe! I’ve always wanted to cook with beancurd but it scares me slightly :/
    Your niece is the CUTEST!!!!

    • Beancurd is great but remember this is just beancurd skin, so it’s really easy. Cooking with like super soft fresh beancurd is a different story 🙂

  8. Awwww, you’re niece is very cute, and you’re very lucky to have some family to go and visit for long weekends! Your “healthy” breakfast looks yummy…

  9. ohhh i’ve never heard or really seen this dish before but it looks and sounds very very yummy 🙂

    I know exactly how you feel! Whenever I leave my sister and nephew I feel really sad and bad too >_< my nephew it 2 years old now and starting to talk and run around too hehe ~

  10. zhiyuan on February 1, 2014 at 3:24 am said:

    Hi! i took interest in this article of yours. I am from Singapore and this is a teochew dish i must say. My family has been making this since many years ago for every Chinese new year. (passed down by my grandmother to my mum). The chinese name is 灌粘 and originates from 潮洲, 揭阳 county area (according to my dad). so yeah. i was very excited to see your article (i thought nobody would have known, a search into various China websites didnt show anything much)

    • Hi Zhi Yuan, I can only suspect the correct words for Guan Chiang are not 灌粘 based on the pronunciation of 粘 in Teochew, which is “liem1”. (more info: http://www.mogher.com/粘)

      After googling on several websites and images, I believe “Guan Chiang” original name to be write in Chinese word is “卷煎“. 卷煎 ( Teochew pronounce: guêng6 ziêng1) is a well-known traditional dishes of Teochew. Sometimes, it is call as 灌煎 ( guêng3 ziêng1 ). In these words, 卷 mean wrap/roll, 灌 brings the meaning of stuffing, and 煎 mean pan-fried. The main ingredients of traditional 卷煎 known by Chinese from China are glutinous rice with variety of vegetables, wrapped in Yuba (bean curb skin); whereas, the 卷煎 we know (in Southern East Asia) are using Jicama, Yam, Raddish as main ingredients. These are my findings after googling.

  11. Hello! I’m looking for a good photo of “Guan Chiang” to be sharing in my facebook, as an introduction of my finding about this delicious traditional food of Teochew. “Guan Chiang” is my all-time-favorite since I was a kid; but, I always wondering about its actual name and meaning of this delicious food. Without a name that can represent in Chinese words is a little hard to give a better impression to non-TeoChew.

    I don’t have any photo of “Guan Chiang” with me and I don’t know how to make one. I couldn’t request my parents or grandma to make it because I’m very far from home now. Then, I found your blog and your picture is perfect. I would like to share your photo, with a link credit to this blog post, to support my introduction 🙂 I will post my link here later but do tell me if you want me to take down your photo.

    And extra sharing: I believe “Guan Chiang” original name to be write in Chinese word is “卷煎“. 卷煎 ( Teochew pronounce: guêng6 ziêng1) is a traditional dishes of Teochew. Sometimes, it is call as 灌煎 ( guêng3 ziêng1 ). In these words, 卷 mean wrap/roll, 灌 brings the meaning of stuffing, and 煎 mean pan-fried. The main ingredients of traditional 卷煎 known by Chinese from China are glutinous rice with variety of vegetables, wrapped in Yuba (bean curb skin); whereas, the 卷煎 we know (in Southern East Asia) are using Jicama, Yam, Raddish as main ingredients. These are my findings after googling.

    By the way, my hometown is Penang, Malaysia 🙂 but I’m currently resident in US.

Leave a Reply to Mel C Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post Navigation