"Ba-wan" are initially cooked by steaming; however, they may also be served after being deep fried to give them a "skin" or gently poached in oil to heat them without drying them out.It is believed that "ba-wan" were first prepared in the Beidou township of Changhua County by a scribe by the name of Fan Wan-chu () as food for disaster relief, when the region was struck by heavy floods in 1898.