Haitou Steamed Rice Rolls 海头猪肠馍

Haitou Steamed Rice Rolls (海头猪肠馍) are sheets of steamed rice batter rolled around peanuts, shredded coconut and shredded papaya, a snack from Haitou town (海头镇) in Danzhou (儋州), Hainan. The name zhuchang (猪肠, 'pig intestine') refers to the long rolled shape; the ingredients listed by the Danzhou city government are only rice batter, peanuts, coconut flesh and papaya.

How it is made

Rice batter is poured evenly over a cloth and steamed; the Danzhou feature remarks that few cooks still use a wood-fired stove for this. The cooked sheet is peeled off the cloth, scattered with peanuts, shredded coconut flesh and shredded papaya, and rolled up into a long strip.

How it is eaten

The rolls are dipped in a bowl of vinegar that the seller makes to their own recipe; the Danzhou feature likens it to apple vinegar and says the rolls need it. Its tasting note finds the papaya shreds crisp and the whole thing closer to a light, fresh dessert than to the rice-noodle rolls sold across Hainan.

Where it comes from

Haitou lies in the southwest of Danzhou on the Zhubi River (珠碧江), with the Beibu Gulf (北部湾) to the west, 79 kilometres from the city centre at Nada (那大镇). Xinhua's Hainan channel names Haitou Steamed Rice Rolls among Danzhou's ten famous snacks.