Ba-wan

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

References

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Wong, Maggie Hiufu (July 24, 2015). "40 Taiwanese foods we can't live without". CNN. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  3. ↑ "A beginner's guide to Taiwanese food in London: the best restaurants". Evening Standard. May 6, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
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