🍽️ Cifan Cake

Fried glutinous rice cake with soy milk.

Cifan Cake is a classic Shanghai breakfast snack. Glutinous rice is steamed, pressed in a wooden frame until cool and set, then cut into thick slabs and deep-fried until the outside turns golden and crisp. The result is a shatteringly crunchy shell over a soft, chewy, subtly salty rice interior with pure, clean grain aroma. Success depends on steaming the rice to the right consistency, cutting even slabs and using hot oil so the crust sets quickly. Shanghainese traditionally pair it with a bowl of hot soy milk, loving the contrast between crisp and tender. Though chain breakfast shops now sell it, the freshly fried pieces from old street stalls still taste most like old Shanghai.