Fan Tuan
台式飯糰·(tái-shì fàn-tuán)
台式早餐 (Táishì Zǎocān) - Taiwanese Breakfasts, Fast in the Suburbs
For anyone who grew up spending Saturday mornings in the backseat of a minivan outside an Asian supermarket, the reward was always a heavy, plastic-wrapped torpedo of Fan Tuan. It is structural engineering disguised as street food: piping hot, fiercely chewy sticky rice compressed around a shatteringly crisp fried cruller, sweet pork floss, and funky, garlicky pickles. You don't need a street vendor's wooden steamer barrel to pull this off in a suburban kitchen. You just need an electric rice cooker, a fierce disrespect for excess moisture, and the good sense to bake your frozen crullers until they're as hard as croutons.
Before you start
Soak the salted dried radish and pickled mustard greens in cold water for 10 minutes, then wring them out fiercely in your fists and finely chop.
Packaged Asian pickles are aggressively salty out of the vacuum pack. Leaching the excess salt and squeezing them completely dry is mandatory.
Beat the eggs, chopped scallion, and salt together in a small bowl.
Ingredients
- long-grain glutinous rice2 cup
- water1 1/4 cup
- ice cubes2
- neutral oil1 tbsp
- frozen youtiao2
- salted dried radish1/2 cup
- pickled mustard greens1/2 cup
- garlic cloves2
- granulated sugar1 tsp
- large eggs2
- scallion1
- kosher salt1/4 tsp
- pork floss1 cup
Method
- 01
Combine the rinsed rice, water, ice cubes, and 1 teaspoon of oil in a rice cooker and press start.
Never soak glutinous rice when using a standard electric rice cooker, or you'll end up with wallpaper paste. The tight water ratio and ice cubes delay starch gelatinization, giving you that bouncy, toothsome Taiwanese 'Q' texture. Once cooked, fluff gently and let sit covered on warm for 10 minutes.
- 02
Bake the frozen youtiao directly on the oven rack at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes until deeply golden and rock hard.
Fresh, soft crullers turn into wet sponges inside hot rice. You want 'lao youtiao' (old dough) that shatters when you bite it. Let cool slightly, then snap them in half crosswise to make 4 short sticks.
- 03
Dry-fry the squeezed radish and mustard greens in an un-oiled skillet over medium heat for 3 minutes until bone-dry and fragrant.
Getting rid of every drop of residual brine is the grandma secret that keeps the rice roll from falling apart.
- 04
Push the pickles to the side of the skillet, add 1 teaspoon of oil, the garlic, and sugar to the center, then toss everything together for 1 minute.
The sugar tames the harsh commercial brine and caramelizes the pickles into the signature sweet-salty 'gu zao wei' (ancient flavor) condiment. Transfer to a bowl.
- 05
Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil in the skillet over medium heat, pour in the scallion-egg mixture, and cook for 2 minutes into a thin omelet.
Flip once and slice into 4 wide strips.
- 06
Lay a clean kitchen towel flat on the counter, top with a large piece of plastic wrap, and press a quarter of the hot rice into a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle.
Keep a small bowl of water nearby to wet your fingers and rice paddle so the sticky grains don't cling to you.
- 07
Layer a quarter of the pork floss down the center of the rice, followed by the caramelized pickles, an egg strip, and a crispy youtiao half.
The pork floss goes down first to act as a dry insulation barrier between the hot rice and the fillings.
- 08
Lift the sides of the towel to fold the rice completely over the youtiao, then grip the towel and squeeze hard to compact the roll into a tight cylinder.
You aren't delicately rolling sushi here; you're packing a snowball. Twist the ends of the plastic wrap like a candy wrapper to seal, and repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Notes
Do not substitute Japanese sushi rice.
You need long-grain glutinous rice (cháng nuòmǐ, labeled as 'Sweet Rice' or 'Sticky Rice' at Asian grocers), which holds its individual grain integrity under pressure.
Prep the fillings on Sunday for 5-minute weeknight breakfasts.
The dry-fried pickles keep in the fridge for two weeks, and pork floss lives in the pantry. On a busy morning, just run the rice cooker and toast the crullers.
Freeze leftovers immediately; never refrigerate them.
Fridge temperatures cause sticky rice starches to retrograde into hard little pebbles. Wrap rolls tightly in plastic and freeze. To reheat, wrap the frozen plastic-wrapped roll in a damp paper towel and microwave for 2 to 3 minutes until piping hot.