Yew Char Kway the Easy Way

July 7, 2011


About once a week, I sit down to a yew char kway (you tiao in Mandarin) blowout, with tau huay or sweet bean curd and gallons of green tea or black coffee to try and wash the grease and guilt away. Out,damned fat deposits! Out I say! *sigh*



These fried dough strips were created to symbolise the twin betrayals of a Chinese infidel, court official Qin Hui and his wife, against General Yue Fei, during the Song Dynasty, resulting in the execution of the innocent general.



A pastry maker who was inspired by the unfortunate event, created this pastry and delighted in ‘drowning’ the dough effigies of the devious couple in boiling oil. Hence, the Cantonese name “yau, ja gwai”, which means “oil fried devil”. Traditionally it consists of two strips joined together to make one pastry - one strip represents the husband and one, the wife. Other aliases include cakwe (Indonesia), pathongko (Thailand), e kya kway (Myanmar) and chopstick cake (Australia).


If you've ever seen yew char kway being made by a professional, you will know it requires as much skill as any artisanal grade baguette or sourdough loaf. The recipe is simplicity itself, but the art lies in the manipulation of the dough, the right flick of the wrist when lowering the dough into the pan and the temperature of the oil to produce a thin shell that shatters when you bite it,  with tunnels (not just holes) of emptiness inside each stick, and myriad blisters down the length of its skin.



Try making it and you will see it's harder than it looks. I was pleased with the flavour of my dough sticks. It had a nice, savoury bite from the baking soda and salt, with just a teasing sweetness from the modest amount of sugar. When hot from the pan, it was glass brittle but lost its crunch so quickly, it almost gave me whiplash. The yew char kway meisters must be knowing kitchen voodoo or maybe I just need to roll the dough out more thinly...



This recipe came out of a challenge to create a recipe for yew char kway that was easy enough for  kitchen newbies.. It still had to taste as good as traditionally made ones and I gotta say, I'm pretty happy with the results.


my favourite movie snack. scroll to the bottom to find out what the red sauce is.



These were made by my 17 year old, who is camera shy and has threathened to slap me with an abuse of free labour suit if I stubbornly insisted on plastering his face on my blog. Guess not everyone is after their 15 minutes in the spotlight?


Prep 15 mins      Rising  45 mins      Cook 10 mins      Makes 12

 

400 g (4 cups) plain or all purpose flour
2/3 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
280 ml (1 1/3  cups) water (very slightly warm or just a bit over body temperature)

 

Combine all ingredients together (avoiding direct contact between the salt and the yeast) in a large mixing bowl and knead until you have a smooth dough that doesn’t stick to your hands.

Form dough into a neat ball, oiling your hands lightly if necessary, to prevent sticking, and cover bowl with a clean cloth or sheet of plastic. Leave to rise for 30 – 45 minutes or until doubled in volume.

Turn dough out onto a clean dry surface lightly dusted with flour. Pat down and roll out to a neat rectangle about 5 mm (1/5 of an inch) thick. Cover with cloth and wait for about 5 minutes for dough to rest. Cut into 12 even strips about 15 cm (6 in) by 3 cm (about 1 in).

Heat about 2 cups oil in a deep pan, until moderately hot. Using the blunt side of a knife blade, press down the centre of each dough strip as if you’re cutting it, but do not cut through the dough. There should be a deep impression but the dough strip should still be in one piece.

Gently lift dough strip and lower into the hot oil. Repeat with the other dough strips, making the impression with the knife only immediately before frying each strip of dough so the impression remains and shows clearly after frying.

Turn the strips and push them into the oil so they cook right through and brown evenly.  Don’t fry too many at once as the temperature of the oil will drop,  the dough will absorb more oil and become greasy.

Remove from the pan when golden brown and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Serve immediately with black tea, Chinese tea, sweet soy milk, bean curd or coffee.

mas-issneun!


 

Really Easy Soft Pretzels (Welcome to the Snap-Free Zone!)

April 14, 2011


I'd been trying to think up a bread project these last two weeks that I could submit to a blogging event  but thanks to a truckload of distractions, inspiration just wouldn't come. Last weekend, whilst on a family outing, I was queueing in front of Aunty Anne's, two minutes into my usual tirade about three dollar pretzels and daylight robbery, when hubs took the five dollar bill out of my hand, slipped it back into my wallet and said, "Why don't you just make your own?" I tell you sometimes, ...


Continue reading...
 

Cinnamon Snail Buns

April 6, 2011


Who doesn't love a cinnamon bun, sticky bun, cinnamon roll, or cinnabon? Whatever you call them, these are just plain irresistable! I've been using this recipe for years and the results are always the same; not so much as a crumb left after 2 hours.



I did however, make one very small change to it, not with the ingredients but in the method. In all the years that I've been making bread,  I have read so much about the autolyse method, which involves leaving the flour and liquid mixture to res...


Continue reading...
 

Crater Faced English Muffins

March 16, 2011


If anyone called me "crater faced", I'd likely cry, or hurl a brick at them. Actually, I'd cry, while taking aim with a brick in hand, then make an appointment with a dermatologist. For an English muffin though, it would be a compliment, rather than an insult. Those ugly craters are delightful butter traps; careful how you use this term - it's patent pending ;)





Now English muffins, let alone good, crater riddled ones that aren't doughy and undercooked inside, are harder to come by here, than ...


Continue reading...
 

Almond, Citrus and Fennel Combs

March 7, 2011


I had bought a box of almond powder, hoping to take the easy route to home made marzipan for a another recipe I wanted to work on, as my usual grocery haunts had not thought fit to stock marzipan for 3 months, for some reason, despite my um.... gentle reminders.



Once home, the box sat in my pantry cupboard for about 5 weeks before I decided enough procrastinating and to hell with marzipan; I'm going to dump the whole box straight into my flour. Did I ever tell you how impatient I am? Or how....


Continue reading...
 

Atta Loaf

March 3, 2011

 have a dream.  A dream of a beautiful, crusty, lofty, airy and tender crumbed loaf made entirely with wholewheat flour. Close to a decade of weekly bread baking and it remains a dream. Oh well, what would we have left to hope for, if everything were at our fingertips? 





My wholewheat breads usually contain no more than 40% wholewheat and they're very pleasing loaves, but I saw Indian style, finely ground wholewheat (atta) for chapatis and thought it might make a good, fine textured wholewheat ...


Continue reading...
 

Panko Berry Sweet Bread

February 21, 2011


When I get bored, I start to raid my refrigerator. That's how I came upon a half used and completely forgotten pack of panko. Since opening it, I had wound it in an elastic band and thrown it to the back of the fridge where it languished for um.....weeks? Worse, I had bought and used up at least 3 new packs since then! For shame.



I couldn't bring myself to toss it as a wary sniff told me it was still perfectly edible and looked fine compared to some of the psychedelically hued, fuzz covered ...


Continue reading...
 

Sunflower Seed Bread

February 14, 2011


Hubs reckons I must have been a bird in a previous life, on account of my obsession with crusty seeded breads. If it's not flax, it's pumpkin, or else millet, except when I remember to buy sesame.





It was close to sunset  when I realised we wouldn't have enough bread for breakfast so I quickly started filling my mixing bowl with flour and wheatmeal, only to realise seconds later that I hadn't replenished my store of flax or any other of my favourite seeds.



Thankfully, I had one  unopened bag...


Continue reading...
 

Yeasted Banana Cinnamon Bread

February 7, 2011


You know how everybody seems to have a wonderful banana (quick) bread recipe, I mean the kind made with baking powder or baking soda?  Ever notice though that there aren't very many recipes around for a yeasted banana bread? Why do you suppose that is?



I've been making this for a very long time and actually prefer it to a banana quick bread as it's much kinder to the hips and it's much more pleasurable to make (for me anyway). Do I really need to say too, that it tastes pretty damned good? I...


Continue reading...
 

Black Pepper and Marmite Boule...or How NOT to Follow a Recipe!

January 30, 2011


Boule really means nothing more than "ball" in French, so any dough that's shaped like a ball and baked becomes a boule. Most boules are however neutral or savoury in flavour. Marmite, if you're unfamiliar with it, is a vegetarian yeast extract that is very nutritious, richly savoury and to me at least, one of life's basic necessities. I love it diluted in hot water as a 'tea', spread on buttered bread or toast and added to soups, congee and sauces to enrich them.



red herring - when you make ...


Continue reading...
 
blog comments powered by Disqus

My Book

 

 

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

 

 

Recent Posts