Fan tuan (飯糰)

I first had fan tuan or ci fan tuan at a Shanghainese restaurant in Richmond (BC), and when I ate it I remember distinctly feeling like my mind had been blown. As in, whoever came up with this idea was a genius!! You tiao and pork floss and glutinous rice were already great on their own, but together? Oh man SO GOOD.

I had fan tuan again during a visit to Taiwan with fellowship friends—and my mind was blown a second time, because I learned that you could just buy it off the streets! For breakfast! At 2 am in the morning!!! That’s when I knew I was going to be seeing more of it in my future haha.

Fast forward a year or two after, and one of the people I traveled to Taiwan with suggested we make it for a fellowship potluck. This time, she suggested using purple rice. We had trouble finding enough you tiao to feed an entire fellowship that evening, but the making was easy and the results so tasty. That’s the version I made today, and it brought back a lot of good and nostalgic memories :) I hope to be making this more regularly in the future!

(original recipe from The Woks of Life)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup regular white rice (I used short grain)
• ¼ cup glutinous white rice
• ¼ cup glutinous black rice
• 1-½ cups water (or enough to go just past the 1 cup line on your rice cooker)
• 1 stick you tiao (油條)
• ½ cup pork floss (肉鬆)
• handful of chopped cilantro
• handful of pickled vegetables (preserved mustard greens or 酸菜 or whatever tickles your fancy)

Instructions:

1. Wash and cook the rice in your rice cooker, and toast the you tiao (if not fresh).
2. Lay out a bamboo sushi rolling mat, and place a sheet of plastic wrap on top of it.
3. Spread half the rice (while warm) over the plastic wrap.
4. Slice the you tiao crosswise into two. Place one half of the you tiao across the lower third of the rice, and spread half the pork floss, cilantro, and pickled vegetables all around it.
5. Wrap tightly.
6. Repeat with the other half of the rice, you tiao and toppings.
7. Enjoy! :)