A night-market dessert of cold milk pudding set with cornflour, cut into fingers, coated in crisp crumbs and deep-fried until the crust is golden while the centre stays cool and molten. A study in hot-and-cold contrast.
Deep-fried milk, zha xian nai, is a night-market dessert that appears across Taiwan, prized for the paradox of its making: a cold, soft milk pudding that is coated in crisp crumbs and briefly deep-fried, so that the outside comes out golden and shatteringly hot while the inside remains cool, soft and almost molten. The dish belongs to the inventive night-market dessert tradition that flourished from the 1980s onward, in which vendors turned cheap ingredients, milk, sugar, cornflour, into theatrical foods. The pudding is made by cooking milk, sugar and cornflour into a thick custard, pouring it into a tray, chilling it until set firm enough to cut into fingers, then coating each finger in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and frying it for only a minute or two, just long enough to brown the crust without the heat penetrating to melt the centre back to liquid. The contrast of the hot crisp shell and the cool creamy interior is the whole point, and it must be eaten at once.
A golden, shatteringly crisp finger that breaks to release a rush of cool, sweet, vanilla milk pudding, almost liquid in the centre. The hot-cold, crisp-soft contrast is the whole trick; eaten in two bites, burning the fingers.
The dish is engineered around protecting a cold soft centre through a hot fry. The milk pudding is set with a high proportion of cornflour, around 40g per 500ml of milk, cooked into a thick paste that sets firmly enough on chilling to be cut and handled. The set pudding is cut into fingers, then coated in the classic three-stage breading, flour, beaten egg, then fine breadcrumbs or panko, the coating being the insulation that shields the cold centre from the hot oil. The fingers are deep-fried at a high temperature, around 180 degrees C, for only 90 seconds to 2 minutes, long enough for the crust to brown and crisp but short enough that the heat does not penetrate to the centre, which stays cool and soft. The cornflour-set pudding is more heat-stable than an egg custard, which would scramble, and the rapid fry is what preserves the cold centre. The contrast is fleeting, so the dessert is served and eaten at once.
Variations
Some versions flavour the milk with matcha, chocolate or coconut. A mango version uses mango puree in the pudding. The crumb coating is sometimes a tempura batter instead of breadcrumbs.
On the Palate
Where Deep-Fried Milk sits in the Taiwanese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
6 steps · 25 min
- 15 min
Whisk 500ml milk with 40g cornflour, 40g sugar and a few drops of vanilla until smooth.
- 25 min
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to a heavy custard that holds a ribbon; pour into a lined loaf tin.
Watch outCook the milk-cornflour base until it's thick enough to hold a ribbon — too loose and the pudding won't set firm enough to cut and fry later.
- 35 min
Chill for at least 3 hours until firmly set; turn out and cut into 8 fingers.
- 45 min
Coat each finger in plain flour, then beaten egg, then fine breadcrumbs, covering fully.
- 54 min
Deep-fry in oil at 180 degrees C for 90 seconds to 2 minutes until deep golden, draining quickly.
Watch outFry hot and fast at one-eighty for under two minutes — the breading has to crisp before the heat reaches the cold center, so the inside stays cool.
- 63 min
Dust with icing sugar and serve at once, while the crust is hot and the centre still cool.
