What's this giant pile of trash? Why, it's discarded bamboo casings from in front of yet another street food stand, this one in Fuzi Miao in Nanjing.
We saw the pile of trash before we saw the actual food being offered, but given the murmering crowd lined up to sample the wares, we had to get in line ourselves. What exactly was in there?
We examined our 12" bammboo stem, which, during the steaming process had been rendered soft and pliant. Removing a panel of bamboo revealed that the hollow interior had been lined with rice paper and stuffed with a pale filling. At first glance, we ascertained glutinous rice made up the bulk of the filling.
After picking at the soft, gluey filling with our teeth, peanuts and raisins were unearthed in the mix. The filling itself came out in stringy pieces, a textural component we attributed to the rice paper. All in all, the rice itself was sweet, and the raisins made it sweeter. No strong flavors dominated, and I was underwhelmed.
But then again, given the Nanjing evening's cold temperatures, biting into hot, steaming sweet rice makes a nice body-warming snack to fight that all-over body chill. I understand the appeal.
A few more street food images after the jump...
I passed another stand later on that evening with sliced-open specimens. The autopsy revealed that it was a whole lotus root whose openings were stuffed with rice, and then marinated. My guess is that it's a sweet taste... anyone know?
Having discovered these at a fruit-and-nut vendor, I'm pretty sure these are dried fruit. I just don't know what kind.
I hope you enjoy the street food shots... I wish I could have gotten
more. Had I not been stuffed, I would have definitely gone for the spicy
grilled octopus skewers I saw near the entrance to Fuzi Miao.
Posted by Astrid at January 3, 2005 08:12 AM