Every year my mom makes fried dough twists (we pronounce it as ma-fa in Hakka Chinese), I’m not entirely sure what you call them in English (Fried Egg Twists, is the closest thing I could find other people calling them), and fried fish chips (la-dé) for the New Year.

Let’s start with the fish chips!



This is what it looks like before you fry them. My mom’s family makes and dries these fish chips from scratch. It’s like magic seeing these get fried and expand!



This is the outcome! Nice and fluffy and crunchy!

After you fry them don’t put them into a closed container/bag before they cool down because they’ll get soft. We just use the biggest bowls/pans in our kitchen and line them with paper towels to get rid of excess oil, this also prevents the chips from getting soft.



We store them in a big white garbage bag afterwards, super convenient to fit everything in one place and cheap! Just tie it up with a rubberband.

And now on to the fried dough twists! My mom makes the dough, rolls and cuts the pieces out, and we help twist and assemble. This is the finished product before frying.



My mom makes two kinds, a salty (black sesame seeds) and sweet (white sesame seeds) version. The sweet ones are the more popular ones.



Now it’s time to eat!