In past blogs, I might have mentioned what a good breakfast a "Fan Tuan" is. In this blog we'll dissect a Fan Tuan to see what's in it. "Fan" is just the Chinese word for cooked rice and "Tuan" in my dictionary is a word for dumpling. I think that's a overused word when describing Chinese food. It's better to think of it as a sushi roll without the green seaweed wrapper and with a lot more things inside. Because there is so much inside the Fan Tuan it has the shape and size of a potato.
The Fan Tuan is wrapped in plastic wrap and that keeps it together. By carefully unwrapping one end of the Fan Tuan you can eat it like a hot dog without getting the sticky rice on your fingers. And you can eat it with one hand! I have seen motorcyclists eating one while driving. (I've also seen motorcyclists talking on a cell phone while driving.) Nobody uses a fork and spoon, they are just there for perspective.
Inside the sticky rice covering is anything you want. The vendor will have an assortment of ingredients and will ask you what you want. I usually get the basic 4:
1. Rou song - dry pork
2. Ji dan - fried egg stripes
3. Yu tiao - the Chinese donut, adds crunch
4. Su tsai - I don't know what this is but the vendor insists that it should be in every Fan Tuan. Here's the insides.
Here I've tried to separate out the ingredients. Clockwise they are:
Fried egg
Rou song
Yu Tiao
I'll get a better picture of Yu Tiao next time.
Convenience in the morning is the name of the game and I would say that western style sandwiches are more popular than Fan Tuan but I like the Fan Tuan. Here is another one made with a different sticky rice called Zhi Mi. It was good too. This time I asked the vendor to put a little of everything inside it was overwhelming, with so many flavors you can't tell what you are eating.
6 comments:
Good pictures and good promotion for Taiwan food..
I love "Fan Tuan", because my college friend likes to call me "fan fan"..haha..acutally, "Zhi Mi" is more health, some even use "ha Mi" which is even more more health....Try to add some "saseme" next time, that is also my favor thing in "fan tuan".
This is the first time my comment is not the first one. PinFan beat me. Oh, well, there is no competition here. As long as we are all trying to get education out of this blog. We really love to hear all the western point of view. Paula's is a good one. I love to read what she has to say. So as to read others. It is always delightful to read Mike's blog as well as reading the comments. I hope to read more from all of you.
you can buy "fan tuan" in ID Seattle. There is one on Jackson, very close to King station. The guy fixed a very good fan-tuan. Every time we went to Vancouver, we also got one from T & T. It is a good "to go" food. It is actually a rice sandwitch. When I was very young ( long long time ago), My mother fixed it as my breakfast when I didn't have time to sit down and eat.
Now I'm eager to try a fan tuan. Florence, maybe we could go to the ID together sometime to try them. I'm sure there are some vegetarian options for fillings.
Mike, after carefully analyzing your Taiwanese dishes, do you ever get the urge to cook or write a cookbook? That happened to Julia Child and French food!
FanTuan looks like fun to try at home. Certainly enough ingrediants to choose from.AND IS IT THE STICKY RICE THAT HOLDS IT TOGETHER.OPPS i ALWAYS THOT of sticky rice as sweet. Ellen
I enjoyed your step by step of the antonym of a fan tuan! I love fan tuan because it is quick and easy to eat!
Your pictures of this fan tuan are cute!
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