Deep-Fried Rice Batter Cakes 油粑粑
Deep-Fried Rice Batter Cakes is featured among the local specialties of Chongqing.
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Deep-Fried Rice Batter Cakes (油粑粑) are the fried rice-and-soybean cakes of Xiushan Tujia and Miao Autonomous County (秀山土家族苗族自治县), Chongqing, which Chongqing government and news pages call 'Xiushan you baba' (秀山油粑粑). The Chongqing planning and natural resources bureau included them in its 2026 'Chongqing ba map' (重庆好吃粑地图) as a traditional food of the county.
How it is made
Rice and soybeans are ground together into a batter in a set proportion. The batter is shaped in a mould and deep-fried.
Flavour and texture
Straight out of the oil the cakes are golden and crisp, with a strong fragrance. The bureau's map describes a crisp shell around a soft, slightly sticky inside, with the flavour of rice and of soybean both coming through.
Where it comes from
The Chongqing ethnic and religious affairs commission reported that in 2024 the Hong'an Border Town (洪安边城) scenic area held a hotpot culture festival that paired Xiushan you baba and Hong'an pickled-vegetable fish (洪安腌菜鱼), both described as heritage foods, with bonfire evenings. They are also one of the local foods named on the 'Chongqing: taste Xiushan' (重庆·金齑玉鲙尝秀山) rural route, which the Ministry of Culture and Tourism selected for its 'flavours of the countryside' (人间有味 自在乡村) series and which runs from Xiushan West Street (秀山西街) through Hong'an Border Town and Chuanhegai (川河盖) to Shidi (石堤镇).
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-26. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.