Also known as 油條(Youtiao) / Chinese Cruller
During the Song dynasty, a corrupt government official and his wife plotted to kill national folk hero 岳飛 (Yue Fei) by inventing false claims about him and having him executed. In protest, local cooks prepared a pair of breadsticks representing the official and his wife, then pressed them together and deep fried them. They named this food Oil-Fried Ghosts / Oil-Fried Devils.
Oil-Fried Ghosts are normally eaten at breakfast, as an accompaniment to soy milk or congee.
This recipe will not quite taste the same as the street vendors, but for my rented tenement flat, far away from those streets, it will still just about do.
Ingredients:
200g Plain Flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 Tsp Baking Powder
½ Tsp Sugar
½ Tsp Salt
125ml room temp. water
+ oil to deep fry
Method:
1. sift the dry ingredients together, then mix in the oil and water.
2. knead the dough for 5mins, it will be very sticky at first but persevere!
3. cover the dough and leave in a warm area for 1hour, then uncover and punch down a few times.
4. tie the dough in a food-bag and leave in the fridge overnight.
The next day
5. take the dough out of the fridge and allow to rest on the counter-top for 2hours.
6. flour a work surface and then roll out into a rectangular shape.
7. cut equally sized strips, then take a chopstick and indent the centre of the first strip.
8. layer the next strip over the first strip and then indent with a chopstick in the middle again.
9. repeat for all strips, indenting one then placing the next on top and indenting the stack again.
10. heat a wok of oil to 180C
11. deep-fry the ghosts until they are at the desired crispiness.
12. place ghosts on kitchen towel to absorb excess oil, then enjoy.
Sean Wai Keung is a Glasgow-based poet and performance maker. He has written about food for Bella Caledonia, the Vittles newsletter and SEINGlasgow. His first full length poetry collection, ‘sikfan glaschu’, explores migration and identity through food and place, and will be published by Verve Poetry Press in April 2021. You can pre-order, and even get a Signed Pre-order Bundle Deal too!
Full credits can be found at seanwaikeung.carrd.co, and he can be followed on Twitter/Instagram @SeanWaiKeung
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