Dengzhan Gao (Lamp-Cake Fritter)

Dengzhan gao is made of a batter of rice and yellow soybean spread thin, filled with shredded radish, pork and egg, then lowered by the ladle into hot oil and fried until puffed and golden; named for its likeness to an old oil-burning lamp, it is crisp of skin and soft and savoury within.

Dengzhan gao is a long-standing folk fritter of Wenzhou, named for its old resemblance to a lamp. In 1979 it entered the "Compendium of Chinese Snacks," becoming one of the Wenzhou snacks to reach the whole country; today its old family shops have passed to a fourth-generation maker.

Fried to order and best eaten hot, its crisp shell and soft savoury filling make a popular breakfast or street bite, often paired with a bowl of fish-ball soup or wontons in an authentic Wenzhou style.

Its lamp-like puffed shape, the contrast of crisp shell and soft centre, and the classic radish-and-pork filling are the marks of dengzhan gao.