One of the important dishes to me is Wang You Juan, a traditional sweet roll made from mashed red beans, lard oil, and egg white. The specialness of Wang You Juan is that it is the most unique desert in my hometown, Changzhou, and I have never found it in any other cities nearby. Even in Changzhou, nowadays, it’s a great pity that finding a restaurant that can make Wang You Juan is becoming harder and harder; however, it is still an unforgettable memory of many natives of Changzhou. I can never forget that when I was a child, my grandmother made it for my family at weekends.
The process of making Wang You Juan is a bit time-consuming compared to other dishes, so my grandmother always began preparing all the ingredients quite early. One important step is whisking egg white. Since we didn’t buy an electric mixer, my grandmother chose to make it by hand; therefore, it always took her a lot of time and energy to make it. Although the ingredient was not as perfect as those made by an electric mixer, it still looked so perfect to me. When all the ingredients were almost prepared, she liked calling my young cousin and me to see how she made and fried the rolls, and that was always our favorite part. The net lard oil seemed like a spider web, and the egg white was like sweet cream, luring us into tasting it immediately. When the rolls were finally dropped in the gold oil, the smell of lard oil disseminated from the pot in a second! The freshly fried Wang You Juan had the best taste, so my cousin and I could not wait to taste the hot rolls. The sweetness of red beans, the great smell of lard oil, the fluffiness of egg white, the crispy sound of cracked pastry, and the crunchy taste of white sugar wrapping the rolls; all these feelings gathered together to create my treacly childhood memory. Like me, many natives of Changzhou regard Wang You Juan’s unforgettable taste and warm family time as the most important parts of their memories. Also, we view Wang You Juan as a symbol of Changzhou’s history and are proud of it all the time.
The origin of Wang You Juan can be traced back to Song Dynasty, when the great poet, Sushi, was spending his remaining days in Changzhou. One day, when Sushi was eating a rice ball, he suddenly had a whim:” If I put mashed red beans inside and wrap it with egg white outside, then make it as a rice ball but fry it instead of steaming it, I can definitely make a delectable dish.” However, he did not get the method of whisking egg white and failed to make it. Nevertheless, his idea was spread to other famous chefs later, and they tried it over and over. Finally, they learned the whisking egg white could make the desert have a perfect taste.
The origin of Wang You Juan and the taste of it can also reflect some culture of Changzhou as a city in the southern part of China. Cities in the at the south of Yangtze River abounds with sugarcanes; therefore, people here are described as “surrounded by sugar” and are used to eat sugar in their daily life. As time goes by, this becomes a dietary habit of Jiangnan people. Therefore, the sweet mashed red beans and white sugar reflects this dietary habit of people here. Also, the rice ball inspired Sushi is a traditional dessert in Jiangsu. People like to make rice balls and rice cakes at festivals and new year, not only because of their sweet and delicious tastes but also due to their appearances and names. The round shape of rice balls represents unity, which is an essential idea of traditional Chinese culture. The name of rice cakes, Gao(糕), has the same pronunciation as the word “high” in Chinese; thus it is entrusted with the wish of getting success. Therefore, the sweet round Wang You Juan represents happiness and unity of family as well. 
Wang You Juan Recipe:
Ingredients: net lard oil 200g, mashed red beans 200g, 3 eggs, starch 10g.
Steps:
- Soak lard oil in clean water for about 30 minutes and clean it.
- Shape mashed red beans into small balls
- Wrap the red beans with net lard oil.
- Take egg white only and whisk it.
- Add some starch to the egg white and stir them into a mash.
- Roll the red bean balls in the rest of starch.
- Wrap the balls with the mash made in step 5.
- Fry the balls in hot oil until the color turns to gold.
- Sprinkle some white sugar particles on the top of Wang You Juan.
This is a photo of me with my family.
Hi, Keyi, thanks for introducing Wang You Juan to us. It sounds quite delicious! I’m convinced of its uniqueness, for even though I would consider myself somehow knowledgeable of Jiangsu cuisine, I’ve never heard of Wang You Juan before. I certainly share your regret that it is a great pity if restaurants eventually stop making it. I’m impressed with all the research you’ve done on Wang You Juan, and I find your research paragraphs stronger and more appealing than the rest. One question I think you can still explore further is the personal connections you have to Wang You Juan. I’d encourage you to think about questions such as, in what ways do you understand yourself and your culture (local and national) in relation to Wang You Juan. In another word, has your conception of your personal identity and of your culture changed over the years due to your experience (or memory) of Wang You Juan? Lastly, the journal prompt asks for a photo of you and your family; you don’t have to revise your blog post this time, but make sure you read the future prompts more carefully.