Ba-wan
Ba-wan served with sweet sauce | |
Type | Dumpling |
---|---|
Course | Dim sum |
Place of origin | Taiwan |
Main ingredients | Dough (corn starch, sweet potato starch, rice flour), pork, chicken, bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms |
Cookbook: Ba-wan Media: Ba-wan |
Ba-wan (Chinese: 肉圓; pinyin: ròuyuán; Wade–Giles: jou4-yüan2; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bah-ôan; literally: "meat circle") is a large-sized Taiwanese dumpling[1][2] and street food, consisting of a 6–8 cm diameter disk-shaped translucent dough filled with a savory stuffing and served with a sweet and savory sauce. The stuffing varies widely according to different regions in Taiwan, but usually consists of a mixture of pork, bamboo shoots, and shiitake mushrooms.[3] Changhua-style ba-wan is considered to be the "standard" ba-wan as it is the most famous and most widely imitated of all styles of ba-wan.
The term "ba-wan" is a non-standard romanization derived from Taiwanese Hokkien. In the township of Lukang, Changhua County, ba-wan are known as bahhoe (肉回; ròuhuí; bah-hôe; "meat return") because they take on the block-like shape of the character 回.
The gelatinous dough is made of a combination of corn starch, sweet potato starch, and rice flour, which gives it its chewy, sticky, and gelatinous texture and a greyish translucent hue. Ba-wan are initially cooked by steaming; however, they may also be served after being deep fried to give them a "skin" or gently poached in oil to heat them without drying them out.
History
It is believed that ba-wan were first prepared in the Beidou township of Changhua County by a student by the name of Fàn Wànjū as food for disaster relief during the late Qing dynasty (1644–1912), when the region was struck by heavy floods. Since then, ba-wan had spread to different regions of Taiwan and is now considered by many as a national food, and can be found in most night markets in Taiwan. Their form makes them relatively easy to pre-make and store. Like potstickers or steamed buns, they can be quickly heated again in oil before serving.
See also
- List of dumplings
- Food portal
References
- ↑ Behnke, A. (2007). Taiwan in Pictures. Visual Geography (Lerner) Series. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-8225-7148-3. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- ↑ Wong, Maggie Hiufu (July 24, 2015). "40 Taiwanese foods we can't live without". CNN. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- ↑ "A beginner's guide to Taiwanese food in London: the best restaurants". Evening Standard. May 6, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- 林明德 (2002). 彰化縣飲食文化 (in Chinese). Changhua City: Changhua County Cultural Affairs Bureau. ISBN 9789570101263.