Cí fàn tuán is a kind of food in Chinese cuisine, originating from Shanghai. It is made by tightly wrapping a piece of youtiao (fried dough) with glutinous rice. It is usually eaten as breakfast together with sweetened or savory soy milk in Eastern China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In Hong Kong, it is usually known as ci faan (粢飯). In Shanghai, the equivalent term cifan means compressed glutinous rice generally, and is used in compound names such as cifan gao, "glutinous rice cake", a toasted cake also made from compressed glutinous rice.
In recent years, there have been innovations on the traditional ci fan tuan, originating from Hong Kong and Taiwan, then reverse-introduced into Shanghai and its vicinity. Today, ci fan tuan is commonly available in two varieties. The "savoury" variety includes ingredients such as zha cai (pickled vegetable), rousong (pork floss) and small pieces of youtiao being wrapped in the rice ball. The "sweet" variety adds sugar and sometimes sesame to the filling.
Famous quotes containing the words fan and/or tuan:
“A matchmaker after a wedding is like a fan after autumn.”
—Chinese proverb.
“In contrast to the flux and muddle of life, art is clarity and enduring presence. In the stream of life, few things are perceived clearly because few things stay put. Every mood or emotion is mixed or diluted by contrary and extraneous elements. The clarity of art—the precise evocation of mood in the novel, or of summer twilight in a painting—is like waking to a bright landscape after a long fitful slumber, or the fragrance of chicken soup after a week of head cold.”
—Yi-Fu Tuan (b. 1930)