Migao (sticky rice with pork sauce)

What it is

Chewy steamed glutinous rice with a spoonful of glossy braised pork sauce and fish floss, often with peanuts, cucumber or pickled radish. Tainan migao sits between oily rice, where rice and seasonings are mixed together, and braised pork rice, where sauce goes over plain rice.

Where it comes from

One Tainan shop owner who grew up in Taichung told a blogger that north of Taichung migao is usually steamed in metal, bamboo or ceramic tubes, while Tainan serves it as a bowl of rice topped with pork sauce and fish floss. Several Tainan shops date from the 1940s to the 1960s.

How it is made

Long-grain glutinous rice is soaked, then steamed. One Tainan shop uses a cypress-wood steamer. The pork sauce is stir-fried with shallots, garlic and soy sauce, then simmered for hours.

How to eat it

Small enough for a snack or a light meal. At Lo Cheng it is paired with sishen herbal soup.

In Tainan

In Kaohsiung, Liao Chi near Ciaotou station mixes the rice with dried shrimp and shallot, steams it in small ceramic ramekins and turns it out onto a plate with pork sauce, fish floss and pickled radish.