What it is
Migui (米粿, 'rice cake'), also called 煎粿 ('fried rice cake'), is a flat cake of long-grain rice milk, steamed and then pan-fried. The fried face turns golden and crunchy while the inside stays soft and chewy. It is served with a savoury minced-pork sauce, at some shops cooked with shredded bamboo shoots.
Where it came from
粿 (kué in Taiwanese Hokkien) is the general word for cakes made from ground rice; the Hakka equivalent is 粄. Because they took time and effort, such cakes were long made mainly as offerings at festivals and worship rather than as everyday food. In Tainan the pan-fried version is thought of as a taste of the countryside, and by 2018 few shops in the city centre still sold it.
How it is made
Long-grain rice (在來米) is ground with water into a rice milk. At A Wen Rice Cake (阿文米粿) in Tainan, the milk is blended with three kinds of sweet potato starch to get the right firmness, then steamed into a cake and sliced. A Wen fries each slice to order on one side only, so one face is crisp and the other stays soft. A sweet-savoury sauce of bamboo shoots and minced pork goes on top.
How to eat it
It is a snack rather than a full meal. A fried egg with a runny yolk is a common extra. Shops often make their own chilli sauce, which can be fierce, so add a little at a time. A Wen also does a stir-fried version (炒米粿) with plenty of bean sprouts, and bamboo-shoot pork soup (筍絲肉羹) goes well alongside.
Around Taiwan
- Tainan
- A Wen opened in 2016 on Bao'an Road (保安路), a street lined with century-old shops, and has been a Michelin Bib Gourmand since 2023. Alongside the rice cake it sells bamboo-shoot pork soup and a limited run of pork cartilage rice.
