Youtiao, also known as Chinese fried churros, Chinese cruller, Chinese oil stick, Chinese doughnut, You Char Kway/Cakwe/Cakoi/Kueh/Kuay (in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore), and fried breadstick, is a long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough eaten in China and (by a variety of other names) in other East and Southeast Asian cuisines. Conventionally, youtiao are lightly salted and made so they can be torn lengthwise in two. Youtiao are normally eaten at breakfast as an accompaniment for rice congee, soy milk or regular milk blended with sugar.
Video Youtiao
Culinary applications and variants
At breakfast, youtiao can be stuffed inside sh?ob?ng (Traditional Chinese: ??, Simplified Chinese:??; literally roasted flatbread) to make a sandwich known as sh?ob?ng yóutiáo (Traditional Chinese: ????, Simplified Chinese: ????). Youtiao wrapped in a rice noodle roll is known as zháli?ng. In Yunnan, a roasted riceflour pancake usually wrapped around a youtiao is known as shaoerkuai (Traditional Chinese: ???, Simplified Chinese: ???). Yet another name for a sandwich variant is jianbinggu?zi (Traditional Chinese: ????, Simplified Chinese: ????; literally youtiao and fried bread).
Youtiao are used to dip into various soups, for example xidoufen.
Youtiao is also an important ingredient of the food Cífàn tuán in Shanghai cuisine.
Tángg?o (??), or "sugar cake", is a sweet, fried food item similar in appearance to youtiao but shorter in length.
In Thailand, youtiao or pathongko (?????????) in Thai are eaten for breakfast with soymilk or porridge. In Cambodia, it's called chhakhvay (??????) and often eaten with kuy teav (??????) (noodle soup) for breakfast.
Maps Youtiao
Names
China
Although generally known as yóutiáo in Standard Mandarin throughout China, the dish is also known as gu?zi (??) in northern China. In Min Nan-speaking areas, such as Taiwan, it is known as iû-chi?-kóe (???), where kóe (?/?) means cake or pastry, hence "oil-fried cake/pastry". In Cantonese-speaking areas this is rendered as yàuhjagwái (???), where gwái literally means "devil" or "ghost".
Folk etymology
The Cantonese name yàuhjagwái literally means "oil-fried devil" and, according to folklore, is an act of protest against Song Dynasty official Qin Hui, who is said to have orchestrated the plot to frame the general Yue Fei, an icon of patriotism in Chinese culture. It is said that the food, originally in the shape of two human-shaped pieces of dough but later evolved into two pieces joined in the middle, represents Qin Hui and his wife, both having a hand in collaborating with the enemy to bring about the great general's demise. Thus the youtiao is deep fried and eaten as if done to the traitorous couple. In keeping with the legend, youtiao are often made as two foot-long rolls of dough joined along the middle, with one roll representing the husband and the other the wife.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, the fried dough is known as cakwe (pronounced [t?akwe]). It is commonly chopped or thinly sliced and then eaten for breakfast with bubur ayam (chicken porridge) or eaten as snacks with dipping of local version of chilli vinaigrette or peanut/sate sauce.
Laos
In Laos, youtiao is generally called patongko (cf. Thai patongko) or "chao quay", and is commonly eaten with coffee at breakfast in place of a baguette (khao jee falang). It is also eaten as an accompaniment to "khao piek sen" (chicken noodle soup) or "jok" (congee).
Malaysia and Singapore
In Malaysia and Singapore, it is known in English as you char kway, you char kuey, or u char kway, transliterations of its local Hokkien (Minnan) name (??? iû-chi?-kóe). It is rendered in Malay as cakoi, an alteration of the Minnan term, "char kuey". The Malay version comes with various fillings, which are either sweet, such as red bean paste or savoury, such as sardines fried in tomato sauce. The plain version is usually eaten with coconut and egg jam kaya. Cakoi is usually sold in morning street markets or "pasar malam" night markets.
It is also normally served with Bak kut teh (???), porridge or rice congee, sliced thinly to be dipped into the broth/congee and eaten. It is also commonly eaten with coffee or soy milk for breakfast.
Myanmar
The youtiao is also a popular breakfast food in Myanmar (Burma) where it is called e kya kway. It is usually eaten with steamed yellow beans (with salt and oil). It is also usually dipped into coffee or tea. E kya kway is also eaten with rice porridge, or cut into small rings and used as a condiment for mohinga. Tea culture is very prevalent in Myanmar, and every shop will serve e kya kway for breakfast.
Some shops stuff meat into the youtiao and deep fry it over again. It is called e kya kway asar thoot - stuffed e kya kway.
Philippines
In the Philippines, the youtiao is called bicho (pl. bicho-bicho) although this name can also refer to sweetened, fried dough balls similar to the buñuelo, also called cascaron. In the Visayan region, they call it "sia-koy," usually twined like a rope.
Thailand
In Thailand, youtiao is generally called pathongko (Thai: ?????????, pronounced [pa:t????k?:]) due to a confusion with a different kind of dessert. Pathongko is a loanword adapted from either Teochew Minnan beh teung guai (???; Mandarin: bái tánggu?) or Cantonese of baahktònggòu (???; Mandarin: bái tángg?o). However, both possible original names are different desserts, not to be confused with the real white sugar sponge cake (???). It was previously sold together with youtiao by street vendors who normally walked around and shouted both names out loud. However, Thai customers often mistakenly thought that the more popular youtiao was "pathongko". Eventually, the real pathongko disappeared from the market because of its unpopularity. Ironically, the disappearance of real "pathongko" leaves youtiao being called under the former's name, but the latter's real name is generally unknown amongst the Thais. But the original white sugar sponge cake can still be easily found in Trang Province in Southern Thailand under its original name. Both Thailand and Cambodia are relatively neighbors to each other. So this is how they both have similar cuisines in ways.
In Cambodia, it is used in rice porridge or noodle soups like Phnom Penh noodle soup kuy teav. This fried delicacy is dipped into the noodle soup. In Thailand, pathongko is also dipped into condensed milk or, in the South, eaten with kaya.
Vietnam
In Vietnamese cuisine, it is known by a name that is a mix of Sino-Vietnamese and native Vietnamese to achieve a pronunciation similar to the Cantonese name, as d?u cháo qu?y, giò cháo qu?y or simply qu?y. ? ("D?u/giò") ? ("qu?/qu?y") coming from the approximate Chinese name. In Vietnam, giò cháo qu?y is eaten typically with congee, pho in Hanoi and sometimes with wonton noodle (mi hoanh thanh).
Other countries
In Australia it is sometimes called chopstick cake by some Cambodian Chinese immigrants because of its resemblance to a pair of chopsticks. In Cambodia, it is called Cha Kway, which is similar to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Cha Kway can be eaten with along with porridge, Chinese noodles, noodles, coffee, or condensed milk.
See also
- Fried dough foods
- List of Chinese dishes
- List of doughnut varieties
- List of deep fried foods
- List of snack foods
- List of street foods
- Zhaliang
- Ci fan tuan
Similar Chinese foods
- Ox-tongue pastry
- Shuangbaotai
Other similar foods
- Boortsog from Mongolia and Central Asia
- Churro from Spain
- Cruller
- Beignet from New Orleans (USA)
- Tenkasu from Japan
Notes
References
External links
- https://www.kfc.com.sg/our-food/kfc-a-m/original-recipe-porridge-and-youtiao/
Source of the article : Wikipedia