Everything about Youtiao totally explained
Youtiao,
you char kway, or
yau ja gwai, sometimes known in English as
Chinese cruller or
fried bread stick, is a long, golden-brown,
deep fried strip of
dough in
Chinese cuisine and other
East and
Southeast Asian cuisines and is usually eaten for
breakfast. Conventionally,
youtiao are lightly salted and made so they can be torn lengthwise in two.
Youtiao are normally eaten as an accompaniment for
rice congee or
soy milk.
Supposed origins
The Cantonese name
yau ja gwai literally means
oil-fried ghost and, according to folklore, is an act of protest against
Song Dynasty official
Qin Hui (秦檜, Cantonese: Chun Kui), who is said to have orchestrated the plot to frame the general
Yue Fei (岳飛), an icon of
patriotism in
Chinese culture. It is said that the food, originally taking the form of two deep-fried human-shaped dough but later evolved two doughs joining in the middle, represents Qin Hui and his wife, both having a hand in collaborating with the enemy to bring about the great general's demise. Thus the
youtiao is deep fried and eaten as if done to the traitorous couple. In keeping with the legend,
youtiao are often made as two foot-long rolls of dough joined along the middle, with one roll representing the husband and the other the wife.
Names
China
Youtiao is also known as
guozi (果子, pinyin: guǒzi) in
northern China. In Cantonese-speaking areas it's known as
yau ja gwai which literally means "oil-fried devil".
The word
yau ja gwai is said by some to be a corruption of
yau ja kuai (油炸檜,
Mandarin pronunciation: yóuzhá Huì;
lit. oil-fried
Qin Hui). There are said to be several possible explanations:
- 檜 and 鬼 are similar in pronunciation in the popular Chinese dialect at the time, and the corruption occurred when the dish is spread to southern provinces, where the pronunciation of local dialect differs.
- Qin Hui's actions caused a deep-rooted hatred that persisted despite his death. The dish's name changed yau ja gwai, with the ghosts (鬼) referring to spirits of Qin and his wife.
- the population were afraid to openly declare their contempt towards the corrupt official when he was still in power; nevertheless, the food became a tool in expressing contempt.
- the Mandarin name you zha hui was subsequently shortened to you hui and evolved into you tiao, because of the shape.
A more likely explanation is that the name is a corruption of the
Minnan name 油炸粿 (
iû-tsa̍h-kóe), where 粿 (
kóe) means cake or pastry, hence "oil-fried cake/pastry". There is a similar precedent in the dish written on Cantonese menus as
炒貴刁 (
cha kuai tiu) -
kuai tiu is meaningless except in Minnan, where 粿條 （
kóe-tiâu) means
flat rice noodles (literally "(rice) cake strips").
Taiwan
In Taiwan, the food is known by the
Minnan (Hokkien) name 油炸粿 (
iû-tsa̍h-kóe or
iû-tsa̍h-ké) or by the Mandarin
yóutiáo.
Myanmar and Philippines
It is also a popular breakfast food in
Myanmar (Burma) and the
Philippines, where it's called
e kya kway and
bitsu.
Thailand
In
Thailand, "youtiao" is generally called "patongkoh" (ปาท่องโก๋, Thai) due to a confusion with another different kind of dessert. Actually, "patongkoh" is a corrupt pronunciation of either
chaozhou dialect of 白糖粿 (Mandarin: bái táng guǒ; Chaozhou dialect: beh teung guai) or Cantonese dialect of 白糖糕 (Mandarin: bái táng gāo; Cantonese dialect: baak6 tong4 gou1). However, both possible original names are different desserts, not to be confused with the real
White Sugar Sponge Cake / Patongkoh (白糖糕). It was previously sold together with "youtiao"/"iu char kuai" by
street vendors who normally walked around and shouted both names out loud. However, Thai customers often mistakenly thought that the more popular "iu cha kuai"/"youtiao" was "patongkoh". Eventually, the real "patongkoh" disappeared from the market because of its unpopularity. Ironically, the disappearance of real "patongkoh" leaves "youtiao" being called under the former's name, but the latter's real name is generally unknown amongst the Thais.
The
traditional Baitanggao (白糖糕) can still be easily found in
Trang Province in
Southern Thailand under its correct name. Baitangguo (白糖粿) is also found widely sold in
Tainan city of
Taiwan.
Singapore and Malaysia
In
Singapore and
Malaysia, it's known in English as you char kway, you char kuay, or u char kway, transliterations of its local
Hokkien (Minnan) name (油炸粿
iû-tsa̍h-kóe).
Vietnam
In
Vietnamese cuisine, it's known through Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation of the Cantonese name, as "dầu cháo quỷ" or "giò cháo quẩy".
Laos
In Laos, it's generally called 'chap kwai,' and is commonly eaten with coffee at breakfast. It is also eaten as an accompaniment to chicken noodle soup.
Other
In
Australia it's sometimes called
chopstick cake by some
Cambodian Chinese immigrants because of its resemblance to a pair of
chopsticks.
Variants
Tanggao, or "sugar cake", is a sweet, fried food item similar in appearance to youtiao but shorter in length.
At breakfast, youtiao can be stuffed inside shaobing (燒餅 shāobǐng; lit. roasted flatbread) to make a sandwich known as shaobing youtiao (燒餅油條 shāobǐng yóutiáo).
Youtiao wrapped in a rice noodle roll is known as zhaliang.
Youtiao is also an important ingredient of the food ci fan tuan in Shanghai cuisine.Further Information
Get more info on 'Youtiao'.
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