What it is
Fried sugar rice cake (白糖粿, literally 'white sugar rice cake') is a fried snack of glutinous rice dough. It takes its name from the white sugar it is rolled in straight out of the oil, sometimes mixed with peanut powder. The crust is crisp and the inside soft and chewy, somewhere between a fried glutinous rice ball and mochi. Market and night-market stalls sell it, mostly in the south.
Where it came from
Its origins are unknown. One theory ties it to tang guo (糖粿), a flat, round sweet with a dent in the middle, offered to the goddess Qiniangma (七娘媽) on Qixi (七夕), the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Legend says the dent is there to hold her tears, as she meets her husband only once a year. As the offering fell out of use, vendors began selling the fried, sugared dough and reshaped it into strips that are easier to eat. In Tainan, Kailong Temple (開隆宮), the best-known venue for the city's coming-of-age rite for 16-year-olds (做十六歲), still offers white sugar rice cakes to Qiniangma at the ceremony.
The snack declined for a time, but a newer generation of vendors has taken it up, and it is now easier to find in Taipei.
How it is made
Glutinous rice flour is mixed with water and kneaded into a dough. A small portion is boiled, then worked back into the rest. The dough is rolled into strips, often twisted, and fried in oil at around 150°C until it puffs. While still hot, each piece is coated in sugar, sugar mixed with peanut powder, or sesame. Stalls that fry other foods keep a separate pot of oil for it, as shared oil spoils its colour and taste.
How to eat it
It is an afternoon snack, bought hot and eaten straight away while the crust is crisp; once cold it turns greasy. Coatings vary by stall, from plain sugar to peanut or sesame. Some stalls also fry sweet potato puffs (番薯椪) and taro cakes (芋頭餅) alongside, and some sell any three items as a set.
Around Taiwan
- Tainan
- Tainan stalls mostly make long, chewy strips seasoned with plain white sugar. A spiral is common, as it heats evenly, is less likely to spit and turns itself over in the oil. Lin Family (林家白糖粿番薯椪) on Guohua Street has fried them for around 60 years.
- Kaohsiung
- Kaohsiung versions are usually flat pieces, fried at just the right thickness to stay crisp outside and soft inside without going hollow. Peanut and sesame coatings are the norm. At Cheng Pai (正牌白糖粿) in Lingya, two brothers carry on their mother's recipe.
- North
- Northern stalls tend to roll it into long, thin, round sticks. They look neat but are more likely to spit in the fryer. Some sellers pass off fried mochi under the same name.
- Central
- In Taichung and Changhua the close relative is glutinous rice fritters (糯米炸), in Taiwanese 秫米糋 (tsu̍t-bí-tsìnn). Irregular chunks about 5 cm across fry a little crisper than the southern kind and are tossed in peanut powder and sugar.
