A beloved Shanghai street snack: shredded daikon, scallions, and river shrimp bound in a seasoned five-spice batter, poured into an oval iron ladle and deep-fried to a crackling golden shell with a steaming, soft interior.
The oil dun zi belongs to the Jiangnan fried-snack tradition, its roots in the Fujianese and Chaoshan ring fritter (zhu jiao quan) — taro, river shrimp, peas, and mushrooms fried in rice batter within a round mold, named for its resemblance to a pig-hoof iron. Immigrants from Ningbo and Wenzhou carried the technique to Shanghai, where vendors swapped the round mold for an oval cast-iron ladle and simplified the filling to local daikon, scallions, and five-spice. By the Republican era, stalls around the City God Temple were frying them to order, the iron ladles bobbing in communal oil vats, and the snack cemented itself as a fixture of old Shanghai lane life.
The shell cracks with an audible crunch, releasing a puff of steam carrying five-spice fragrance; the shredded daikon inside is soft and faintly sweet, the scallions silky. If river shrimp are folded in they offer little pops of briny sweetness against the airy batter.
At around 180°C, water in the batter flash-vaporizes, inflating thousands of tiny bubbles that set into a porous, rigid crust as the starch gelatinizes. Simultaneously, sugars and amino acids in the flour undergo Maillard browning, generating the golden colour and roasted-grain aromatics. Inside, daikon's glucosinolates break down with heat — their raw pungency converts to mild sweetness — and the trapped juice keeps the interior moist against the bone-dry exterior shell.
Variations
Sweet red-bean-paste versions replace the daikon core; a seafood variant folds whole river shrimp and dried scallop threads into the batter; some vendors add salted pork rind for chewier contrast. In Chaoshan, the ancestor dish (zhu jiao quan) uses taro cubes, creek shrimp, and peas in a rice-flour batter fried in a round mold.
On the Palate
Where Fried Shredded Turnip Fritter sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
6 steps · 20 min
- 15 min
Whisk together all-purpose flour, cold water, salt, and five-spice powder into a smooth, pourable batter; rest 5 minutes to let any bubbles settle.
- 28 min
Peel and julienne the daikon into fine matchsticks; toss with a pinch of salt, rest 5 minutes, then squeeze out all excess liquid with your hands.
Watch outSalt the shredded daikon, rest, then squeeze bone-dry — leftover water thins the batter and makes the fritter soggy instead of crisp.
- 33 min
Combine drained daikon with sliced scallions and cleaned river shrimp; season with a splash of soy sauce and mix well.
- 42 min
Heat neutral oil in a deep wok to 180°C; submerge the oval iron ladle in the oil for 30 seconds to preheat — this prevents sticking.
Watch outPreheat the iron ladle in the oil for a good half minute before filling — a cold ladle and the fritter sticks and tears when you try to release it.
- 52 min
Lift the ladle out, ladle in a thin layer of batter to coat the base and sides, heap a generous spoonful of daikon filling in the centre, then spoon more batter over the top to fully encase the filling.
- 64 min
Lower the filled ladle back into the hot oil and fry for 3–4 minutes, spooning hot oil over any exposed batter, until the fritter is deep golden and releases cleanly from the ladle when tapped.
Watch outFry to deep golden and it releases from the ladle on its own when tapped — that clean drop tells you the shell is set through.
