You Tiau Recipe 

             This is one of my favorite Chinese snacks. I love it with my fish congee, and it´s great just by itself too... As a "gwai poh" Chinese food lover, I try to learn how to cook my fave dishes. So far I can cook a few of them, including Tsong You Bing or green onion pancakes; and a Shanghainese dish called "Mooledo" - spinach and cubed tofu salad. 

            TheYou Tiau original recipe I found calls for some ingredients I did not want to use (alum and ash soda) so instead, I used (the healthier) baking soda plus citric acid to perform the role of leavening agents.

The result is a fluffy, crispy dough - very yummy! 

I hope you enjoy.

           

Ingredients:

• 4 to 5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups room temperature water
• 1 1/2 tsp citric acid (powder)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 1/2 tsp granulated yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• Grapeseed or Peanut oil (for deep frying)

Prepare the dough: 

     

            Measure the flour and set aside. On a medium-sized bowl, mix the citric acid, baking soda, yeast and salt. Pour the water and stir with a spoon or chopsticks. The mixture will bubble up. Add the flour until it´s all incorporated to the liquid. Knead the dough with your hands for about 10 minutes. (If it´s still sticky, dust it with a bit of flour. If it´s too hard, add a little more water). Form a ball. Grease the same bowl with a little oil and place the ball of dough inside it. Cover with a dish cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes. 

        Knead some more (5 to 10 minutes) and let it rise again, covered with the cloth. If the weather is cold, you should wait more time, about 2 - 3 hours. If it´s warm, you can wait less (1 to 2 hours).

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Time to deep fry them!    

              Fill a wok with 10 cups of oil. While it´s being heated, prepare the you tiaus. 

             Split the dough in 4 equal parts and work with one at a time. Roll the dough into a cylinder then flatten it up until it´s about 3-4 inches wide and 1 foot long. Cut it into 1- inch vertical strips, place one on top of the other and press the center with a floured chopstick (so the two strips are joined by the middle only). I did this "pressing" on both sides. Stretch the uncooked You Tiau and place it carefully in the hot oil. Make sure the oil is hot. If you did it right, the donut will instantly start to inflate and become aerated. Cook until both sides are golden and remove from the wok to a plate lined with paper towels. 

            Each of the 4 dough parts would yield about 5 or 6 You Tiau´s. Repeat the process until you finish with the 4 dough parts. You can fry 2 at a time, depending of the size of your wok.

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Serve warm, with your favorite congee recipe, or just by itself! 

(I had mine today with a nice cup of coffee...)

Thank you for visiting my blog! =)