Snack · Griddled

Erkuai (Grilled Rice Cake)

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

It's pounded from rice, not milled into flour — steamed rice is pounded into a smooth dough and pressed into flat cakes before grilling.

Steamed sticky rice is pounded into dough and pressed into flat rounds, grilled over charcoal until lightly charred and puffed, then split and filled with peanut-sesame paste or a fried dough stick.

Why it's made this way: Yunnan's rice-farming terraces made pounded rice cakes a practical way to repurpose cooked rice, becoming Kunming's everyday breakfast.