Street Snack · Roasted Chestnuts

Tangchao Lizi (糖炒栗子) — Sugar-Roasted Chestnuts

📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

The "sugar" in the name isn't really the point — it's mixed with hot sand and stirred like a slow stir-fry so the shells crack evenly without burning.

Chestnuts are tumbled in a huge wok with hot sand, a little maltose syrup, and oil, roasted low and slow until the shells split and the nut inside turns soft and faintly sweet. Vendors scoop them hot into paper cones straight from the wok.

Why it's made this way: Hebei's Qianxi County has long grown small, dense, naturally sweet chestnuts, and roasting them in hot sand cooks them evenly while keeping shells easy to crack.