Youtiao


Youtiao, is a long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough commonly eaten in China and 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. Youtiao may be known elsewhere as Chinese cruller, Chinese fried churro, Chinese oil stick, Chinese doughnut, Chinese breadstick, and fried breadstick,
In Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, they are called You Char Kway, Cakwe, Cakoi, Kueh, Kuay. In Philippines, it is called Bicho/Bicho-Bicho or Shakoy.

Culinary applications and variants

At breakfast, youtiao can be stuffed inside shāobǐng to make a sandwich known as shāobǐng yóutiáo. Youtiao wrapped in a rice noodle roll is known as zháliǎng. In Yunnan, a roasted riceflour pancake usually wrapped around a youtiao is known as shaoerkuai. Yet another name for a sandwich variant is jianbingguǒzi.
Youtiao is occasionally dipped into various liquids, for example the soup xidoufen, soymilk, and soy sauce.
Youtiao is also an important ingredient of the food Cífàn tuán in Shanghai cuisine.
Tánggāo, or "sugar cake", is a sweet, fried food item similar in appearance to youtiao but shorter in length.
In Cambodia, it's called chhakhvay and often eaten with rice congee for breakfast.
In Thailand, youtiao or pathongko in Thai are eaten for breakfast with soymilk or porridge.

Names

China

Although generally known as yóutiáo in Standard Mandarin throughout China, the dish is also known as guǒzi in northern China. In Min Nan-speaking areas, such as Taiwan, it is known as iû-chiā-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. The Cantonese name may derive from Guangzhou being the last resistance front before the Song dynasty collapsed.

Cambodia

In Cambodia, it is called Cha Kway. Cambodians usually dip it in rice congee or coffee.
In Australia it is sometimes called chopstick cake by some Cambodian Chinese immigrants because of its resemblance to a pair of chopsticks.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, the fried dough is known as cakwe. It is commonly chopped or thinly sliced and then eaten for breakfast with bubur ayam or eaten as snacks with dipping of local version of chilli vinaigrette or peanut / satay sauce.
In Semarang, cakwe is usually sold as a street snack at kaki lima, at the same stalls that sell and untir-untir. With savoury cakwe and sweet bolang-baling being soft and fluffy and untir-untir being crispy, they make a good snack mix.

Laos

In Laos, youtiao is generally called kao nom kou or patongko or "chao quay", and is commonly eaten with coffee at breakfast in place of a baguette. It is also eaten as an accompaniment to "khao piek sen" or "jok".

Malaysia and Singapore

In Malaysia and Singapore, it is known in English as you char kway, you char kuey, or u char kway, which are transliterations of its local Hokkien name. 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., where it is called e kya kway.

Myanmar

The youtiao is also a popular breakfast food in Myanmar where it is called e kya kway . It is usually eaten with steamed yellow beans. 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, it is either known as Bicho / Bicho-Bicho or Shakoy / Siyakoy / Pinisi / lubid-lubid. They are usually deep-fried, in the case of Bicho-Bicho, or deep-fried and twisted as twisted doughnuts, in the case of Shakoy. Dry, smaller and crunchy versions are called pilipit.

Thailand

In Thailand, youtiao is generally called pathongko due to a confusion with a different kind of dessert. Pathongko is a loanword adapted from either Teochew Minnan beh teung guai or Cantonese of baahktònggòu. 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 while youtiao is still called "chakoi" or "chiakoi" by some Southerners.
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 dầu cháo quẩy, giò cháo quẩy or simply quẩy. 油 鬼 coming from the approximate Chinese name. In Vietnam, giò cháo quẩy is eaten typically with congee, pho in Hanoi and sometimes with wonton noodle.

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