Glutinous Rice Sausage (Nuomi Chang)

Glutinous rice sausage is a traditional Taiwanese morning-market snack made by stuffing soaked glutinous rice, shiitake mushrooms, and dried shrimp into pig intestine casing and steaming the whole sausage until the casing turns translucent, then slicing and eating it once slightly cooled. Dipped in sweet chili sauce, the glutinous rice is firm and soaked through with the savory depth of mushrooms and dried shrimp — one of the most self-explanatory dishes in Taichung's traditional morning markets, where longtime regulars often say nothing at all, just take it and walk.

According to a general reference summary, glutinous rice sausage (glutinous rice stuffed into cleaned pig intestine and steamed) also appears in Guangdong's Chaoshan region and on the Korean Peninsula, not just in Taiwan. Within Taiwan, southern preparations tend to use raw glutinous rice stuffed directly into the casing before steaming, while northern preparations commonly pre-cook the rice first to avoid an undercooked center. Glutinous rice sausage and the intestine-wrapped small sausage (da chang bao xiao chang) share the same pig-intestine casing, but the former is pure glutinous rice inside while the latter wraps a sausage in glutinous rice — they are different foods.

What is Glutinous Rice Sausage

Cleaned pig small intestine serves as the casing. Soaked long-grain glutinous rice mixed with diced shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, soy sauce, and five-spice powder is stuffed in to about seventy percent capacity (leaving room for expansion during steaming), both ends tied off, then steamed over high heat until fully cooked. Once done, the casing is tight and translucent, and the glutinous rice inside has absorbed the savory flavor of the mushrooms and dried shrimp, giving a firm and chewy texture. Sliced on the diagonal and served with sweet chili sauce. It shares its outer casing with the large-intestine-wrapped small sausage (da chang bao xiao chang), but the filling is pure glutinous rice — the two are entirely different foods in both texture and the way they're eaten.

The Ziyou Road morning market in Taichung's West District is the core of a traditional neighborhood market ecosystem. Vendors begin setting up as early as five in the morning to serve the daily shopping needs of local residents. Glutinous rice sausage is commonly found at traditional morning markets across Taichung, with stalls on both Ziyou Road and Sanmin Road, primarily sold fresh-steamed to order. Compared to the large-intestine-wrapped sausage, which is more of a take-away-and-eat-immediately food, glutinous rice sausage is more often bought at the morning market to take home — an extension of Taichung's traditional home kitchen memory.

How to eat it the local way

Local knowledge

Source: field research at the Ziyou Road morning market, West District, Taichung. Photos to be replaced with Dio's own images.