17.7.05

Youtiao 油条

Youtiao is known as Chinese fried bread stick, or long doughnut.


Youtiao on Wikipedia :
A Chinese dish, consisting of a strip of fried dough. It is golden brown, slightly salted, and also created as a pair which can be torn lengthwise in two.

Quite often Youtiao are consumed with rice congee or soy milk as a breakfast food.

It is also commonly found wrapped in a white rice flour sheet, and known as Zhaliang; it is then served cut into pieces with soy sauce sprinkled over it as a dim sum or breakfast dish.

Youtiao is commonly found in Southern parts of China. And it is a favourite breakfast dish for Hong Kong's Dim Sum fans. It is also a common breakfast dish amongst the Chinese in the South East Asian countries, e.g. Singapore, Malaysia.

They are available from restaurants that serve Dim Sum, or Chinese style breakfast. One hardly makes Youtiao at home as it requires a big effort in preparation and production. They are afterall made like doughnuts - deep frying.

So where can you find Youtiao if you are abroad? My initial guess was Chinatown. True enough, I found one little Chinese pastry shop in London's Chinatown (Leicester Square) that sells an assortment of western and asian styled pastries and desserts, including Youtiao. If you ever have the craving for Youtiao or if you're curious to find out what they taste like, just look for Kowloon Restaurant on 21 Gerrard Mansion.

3 comments:

nicky blue said...
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nicky blue said...

Oh yay!!! Good work, June! I was just looking for you tiao...to serve with bak kut teh!!! (Not that I know how to cook that, but I shall ask my mother. :-))

Where's Gerrard Mansion? Is it off Gerard Street?

June said...

Enter Gerrard Street from Wardour Street, you should see this shop 2nd on your left.