Youtiao

Youtiao or you tiao 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.

1 Names
2 Variants
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

Names

Youtiao is also known as guozi (果子, pinyin: guǒzi) in northern China. In Cantonese-speaking areas it is known as yau ja gwai meaning "oil-fried devil". In Singapore it is known by its Hokkien name, u char kway (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: iû-chia̍h-kóe). In Vietnamese cuisine, it is known through Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation of the Cantonese name, as "dầu cháo quỷ" or "giò cháo quẩy".

The Cantonese name yau ja gwai and Hokkien name u char kway literally mean oil-fried ghost and, according to tradition, 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.^[1]

The word yau ja gwai is believed to be a corruption of yau ja kuai (油炸檜, Mandarin pronunciation: yóuzhá Huì; lit. oil-fried Qin Hui). There are 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. It is also a popular breakfast food in Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, and Thailand, where it is called e kya kway, bitsu, and patongkoh respectively. In Australia it is sometimes called chopstick cake by some Cambodian Chinese immigrants because of its resemblance to a pair of chopsticks.

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 . "Baitangguo" (白糖粿) is a fried rice flour dough coated with icing sugar or optionally sprinkled with black sesame, while "Baitanggao" (白糖糕) is a white sugar sponge cake. Whatever it is supposed to be, 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 Thai though it is popular for breakfast. The traditional Baitanggao (白糖糕) can still be easily found in Trang Province in Southern Thailand with its correct name. Baitangguo (白糖粿) is also found widely sold in Tainan city of Taiwan.

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, pinyin: shāobǐng; lit. roasted flatbread) to make a sandwich.
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.