Zhaliang

A fried dough stick wrapped in a soft steamed rice sheet, where the contrast only survives if the two meet at the last moment.

Vegan.

Ingredients

For the rice sheets

• 150 g rice flour
• 30 g wheat starch
• 20 g cornflour
• 600 ml water
• 1 tablespoon flavourless oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

The rest

• 4 youtiao, freshly fried
• 4 tablespoons sesame paste, loosened with water
• 4 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• oil, for the tray

Method

1. A FRIED THING WRAPPED IN A STEAMED ONE, and the entire dish is the moment the two textures are both still right. A youtiao is crisp for about an hour; a rice sheet is soft and slightly wet. Wrap them when the youtiao has gone leathery and there is no contrast left and no reason for the dish to exist. Fry or buy the youtiao last, wrap immediately, and eat within minutes.
2. THE SHEET BATTER MUST BE STIRRED EVERY SINGLE TIME. Rice flour settles to the bottom of the jug within a minute, and the second sheet poured from an unstirred jug is thin water and the last one is sludge. Stir it right before every pour.
3. Rice flour, wheat starch, cornflour and salt whisked into the water until completely smooth, then the oil whisked in. Rested 20 minutes.
4. A flat metal tray brushed with oil, and a wok or wide pan with 3 cm of hard-boiling water and a rack in it.
5. The batter stirred, then a thin ladleful poured onto the tray and tilted to coat it in an even layer about 2 mm deep.
6. Tray onto the rack, lid on, 3 minutes. The sheet is done when it has gone from white to translucent and the surface bubbles up.
7. Tray lifted out and the base run under cold water for a few seconds. The sheet then peels off in one piece with a scraper; hot, it tears.
8. Repeated for the rest, each sheet brushed with oil and stacked.
9. Now and not before: the youtiao fried or reheated until properly crisp, and cut to the length of the sheets.
10. A sheet laid flat, a youtiao along one edge, and rolled up firmly. Cut into three.
11. Sesame paste and hoisin spooned over, soy sauce around, sesame seeds scattered.
12. Eaten straight away. There is no version of this that keeps and reheating turns the whole thing to one soft texture.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under China · All recipes