Thanks to Twitter, I got a tip on chee fahn or literally, sticky rice. I haven’t eaten one of these since I was very young – my mom would buy them for me as a quick snack. I guess it’s a Chinese version of onigiri or rice balls (since I’ve seen Japanese ones formed into long tube shapes)… but it’s sticky rice (sticky rice being a kind, as opposed to sticky modifying and describing rice’s attributes) wrapped around a piece of fried dough alongside from dried shredded pork and pickled vegetables.
I guess it doesn’t sound that appealing, but it’s the perfect snack!
Shot of the insides – you can sort of see the dried/shredded pork along the bottom, and the shadow part is the pickled veggies. This was perfectly suitable and tasty, though I ate mine hours after purchase – it was still warm when I picked it up – and they are not meant to be eaten ice cold. Room temperature, sure, but not ice cold. I’ll have to go back…
Do you have any recommendations on where I can get these? Flushing or Chinatown both work. Thanks!
em says
well AA plaza (the place with lo mein, mi fun, buns, fried chicken, etc) under the LIRR in flushing sells them…but I find them not very good and too hard to chew. You should try it out and see if my assessment is right. its easy to get the ingredients and just make it yourself ^-^
Feisty Foodie says
Thanks Em! I’ll check them out as it’s probably fairly cheap too.
Hungry says
I have never seen nor had one of these.
Feisty Foodie says
What? How is that possible??? We walked by the place I bought these on Sunday too. I thought about going in for one… damn!
aimee says
I love my onigiri so why not this?
Feisty Foodie says
This is definitely very similar but the rice makes a bit of difference; onigiri with its vinegary rice and chee fahn with more of a sticky, milder taste to it.
Living in the Weeds says
Well the great food hunt begins for this in Salt Lake City.
ka says
in flushing, http://www.yelp.com/biz/zhu-ji-dumpling-stall-flushing-2 has it. it’s ok, nothing remarkable. but it looks better than the one u had in the picture. try it and tell us if they’r any better!
T.C. says
It sounds good for snackage. Too bad sticky rice is never a must-have for me. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten this chee fahn wrap either. lol.
Dina says
The restaurant (Coluck’s) in the tunnel between Elizabeth and Bowery St has them. They have it in a sweet or salty version. Pretty good, I’ve been having them since I was a kid.
Feisty Foodie says
Ooh, thanks! I’ve been going to Coluck since I was in high school! In fact, I’ve written about them before here too, haha 🙂
Dina says
Yes I recall your post about Coluck’s. I’ve been a lurker on your blog for a while. Actually, we both went to the same high school 🙂
Feisty Foodie says
Oh cool! How funny. 🙂