Youtiao is an ancient Chinese food. It is a long, hollow, deep-fried food with a crispy and tough taste. It is one of the Chinese tradition’s breakfast.

What is Youtiao?

Youtiao is a strip-shaped fried food that made of flour, water, salt and additives. The traditional Youtiao is eaten with biscuit and soy milk. It can also be eaten with pancakes, steamed vermicelli roll, tofu jelly and even hot pots.

Youtiao pronunciation

Youtiao is also known as the deep-fried dough stick, Chinese cruller, fried breadstick, Chinese oil stick, Chinese doughnut, You Char Kway/Cakwe/Kueh/Kuay. Youtiao’s which pronunciation is yóutiáo.

Youtiao history

“History of the Song Dynasty” records: during the emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, the traitors Qin Kuai and Wang murdered the loyalty general Yue Fei and his son on charges of “not necessary”.

It triggered a strong dissatisfaction from the army and the people. At that time, there were two food vendors selling breakfast in the Lin An town. To express their inner anger towards the traitors Qin Kuai and Wang, they grabbed a dough and pinched it into two doughs according to the looks of Qin Kuai and Wang. Then, they twisted them together and add into a frying wok. And called it “Fried Qin”.

For a moment, the people who bought breakfast earlier also shouted: “Eat The Fried Qin! Eat The Fried Qin!” To vent their resentment towards the traitors, people rushed to imitate make the “Fried Qin”. Since then, Youtiao has appeared on the cooked food stalls. So far, Youtiao has been called “Fried Qin” in some places. Now, Youtiao is one of the favorite foods of the Chinese people.

Youtiao nutritions:

In most China areas, Youtiao contains a large amount of aluminum, fat, carbohydrates, some proteins, a small number of vitamins and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus and potassium. They are high-calorie, high-fat foods.

The traditional Youtiao is eaten with soy milk. In terms of protein quality, soy milk is rich in Lysine but lacks Methionine, and the Youtiao just the opposite. The two complement each other and are an excellent combination.

How to make youtiao

Youtiao Recipe:

Youtiao Recipe Ingredients:

500g ordinary flour

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

15g vegetable oil

275g water (normal temperature)

Youtiao Recipe Instructions:

1. Dissolve the salt with the 255g water in a large bowl. Add egg baking soda, aluminum-free baking powder and oil in the bowl and mix well.

2. Pour the flour in the mixture to make the tough. Transfer the dough to the working surface and knead it until it is almost not sticky. (add water if need)

3. Apply a layer of oil to the dough to prevent sticking. Then cover the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for one night.

4. Transfer the dough to the working surface. Divide the dough into two equal doughs. Flatten the two doughs into a rectangle shape and cut each piece into equal strips.

5. Stack every two dough strips together and use chopsticks to press them from the center so that they can stick together. All remaining dough strips are treated the same.

6. Heat a wok with oil until 200℃/392℉. Pinch the ends of the dough and stretch them. Then, add them into the frying wok.

7. Use chopsticks to flip the Youtiao until each side becomes golden. Transfer it on a plate and serve it with soy sauce or soy milk.





