What warm sauce is traditionally added to Cantonese rice noodle rolls just before serving?

What warm sauce is traditionally added to Cantonese rice noodle rolls just before serving? Sweetened soy sauce.

Cantonese rice noodle rolls, or cheung fun, are made from thin steamed sheets of rice batter. They may be filled with shrimp, beef, pork, vegetables, or dried shrimp, but the noodle sheet itself is deliberately mild. The sauce supplies much of the dish’s savory, sweet, and umami character.

The traditional finishing combination is warm sweetened soy sauce, often accompanied by a little plain oil or fried-shallot oil. The sauce is poured over the rolls immediately before they reach the table, so it remains glossy and warm rather than soaking into the delicate wrapper too early.

Oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, and chili oil can appear in restaurant variations or regional preparations, but they are not the canonical answer for the Cantonese dim-sum style described here. Zhaliang is another common mix-up: it is a related rice roll wrapped around a crisp fried dough stick, not a sauce.