Wuxi Potato Cakes 巫溪洋芋粑粑

Wuxi Potato Cakes (巫溪洋芋粑粑) are cakes of mashed potato from Wuxi County (巫溪县), Chongqing, a county whose potatoes grow in the high mountains. A Hualong news report on Wuxi's potato food, published for the 26th China Potato Congress held in the county in 2025, describes them as soft, fragrant and savoury, and the Wuxi County government reports that the congress hotels served them to arriving delegates as a local dish.

How it is made

In July 2025 a Southwest University (西南大学) student team watched a farming household in Wenfeng (文峰镇) make the tung-leaf version, 'tongzi ye yangyu baba' (桐子叶洋芋粑粑). Freshly dug Wuxi potatoes are crushed to a mash and kneaded with a sourdough starter (老面) and wheat flour. Portions of the dough are wrapped in fresh leaves of the tung-oil tree (桐子叶) into triangles and then steamed. The students found that the kneading and wrapping, simple as they look, take a practised hand passed down through generations.

Flavour and texture

Out of the steamer the cakes are golden, soft and slightly sticky, and the smell of the leaf mixes with the smell of the potato. Hualong describes the cakes as soft, fragrant, salty and savoury, with the warmth of the wood-fired stove about them.

Where it comes from

Wuxi potatoes carry a national geographical-indication certification, according to the Southwest University report. Hualong names potato cakes alongside roasted potatoes and dried potato stewed with cured pig's trotters as dishes that every Wuxi farming household makes its own way.