CAKUI OR PAK TUNGKU

Ingredients 260g (about 2 cups and 3 tablespoons) bread flour, plus more for dusting 170g (3/4 cup) lukewarm water (100-110 degrees F) 2g (1 teaspoon) active dry yeast 2g (1 teaspoon) baking ammonia (see notes) ½ teaspoon alum powder (see notes) 8g (1½ teaspoons) salt 14g (1 tablespoon) granulated sugar 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 4g (2 teaspoons) baking powder Instructions Add all the ingredients, except baking powder, into the bowl of an electric mixer attached with a dough hook; mix on medium-high for 8-10 minutes. The dough will be quite wet, and you may be tempted to add more flour to it. Don’t. The moisture in the dough is what creates steam inside the crullers when they’re in the hot oil. Besides, once the dough has rested, it becomes a bit firmer and more manageable. Put about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (additional to 1 tablespoon in the dough) into a separate bowl and rub the bottom of the bowl with it. With oiled hands, form the dough into a round ball as best as you can. If you can’t turn it into a smooth ball, don’t worry. It doesn’t matter. Make sure the dough ball is covered with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 4-5 hours. After 4-5 hours, you will see that dough has not risen much, if at all; no worries. Everything’s fine. Take the dough out onto your kitchen counter which has been dusted with more flour. Spread it out with your hands. Sprinkle the baking powder all over the surface of the dough. Fold the dough in half over itself and push it slightly forward with the heels of your hands. Give the dough a quarter turn; repeat with the folding and stretching 3-4 more times. Once the baking powder has been incorporated into the dough, form the dough into a ball. Cut the ball in half. Working with one half at a time (keep the other half covered), spread the dough out with your hands and pat it down until you get an 8×5-inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise into 8 strips of equal size, then cut the 8 strips crosswise in half. Repeat the process with remaining dough. Heat some vegetable oil in a fryer, making sure the oil is at least 3 inches deep. While waiting for the oil to heat up, get a bowl of water and start making conjoined dough twins. You do that by rubbing some water in the middle of one piece of dough (covering about an inch) on top of another piece of dough and pressing the two together at the spot where the water is. Arrange them on a platter in a single layer. Repeat until you’ve run out of dough strips. Once the oil reaches 350 degrees F (if you don’t have a thermometer, do a chopstick test by pressing the tip of a wooden chopstick against the bottom of the fryer. If you see bubbles, the oil is ready), gently lower the twins into it. Don’t crowd the fryer. You don’t want the oil temperature to drop too quickly, and you want to have enough room to flip the twins around. Flip the twins around (did I just repeat myself?) constantly (This is easy to do with a pair of wooden chopsticks.) until they have puffed up and become golden brown all over. Fish them out onto a paper towel-lined cookie sheet. Arrange them in a single layer. Consume when slightly warm. Serve with sweetened condensed milk or Thai dipping custard (sangkhaya). Bahan-Bahan: 1kg tepung gandun (anchor brand) 1 pkt instant yeast (mauripan) ½ cawan minyak mazola} 1½ cawan gula pasir }satukan 3½ cawan air } sedikit garam } 2 biji telur 1 sudu teh bikarbonat soda 1 sudu teh air kapur Cara: *satukan tepung gandum dan yis. Pecahkan telur kedalam adunan tepung tadi, gaul. *masukkan bahan yang telah dilarutkan bersama air. *uli adunan hingga licin dan tidak melekat di tangan. *tutup adunan dengan tuala lembab, biar 2 jam atau hingga keesokan pagi. *uli semula adunan tersebut hingga licin dan lembut. *ambil sedikit adunan dan canaikan. *potong bentuk memanjang 7 X 2 cm *guna lidi atau buluh bunga telur, celupkan dalam air dan basahkan bahagian tengah adunan yang dipotong tadi. *ambil adunan lain yang telah dipotong sama saiz, lekatkan, tekan sedikit dibahagian yang dibasahkan dengan air tadi. *ulangi proses dan goreng dalam minyak penuh dan api sederhana  Cadangan Hidangan: boleh makan begitu sahaja atau disapu dengan mentega, kaya, jem atau dimakan bersama kuah kacang. Tambahan: semakin lama anda uli, adunan akan bertambah lembut (fine) boleh guna yis basah(beku)dan hasilnya lebih baik. minyak mazola bolah diganti dengan minyak masak atau mentega/marjerin yang dicairkan 2) CAKUI 400 gm tpg gandum 4 gm yis segera 1/2 sdb shortening 1 sdb marjerin 1 biji telur 1 sdb susu pekat/ gula secubit garam + - 1 1/2 cwn air ku cairkan marjerin then sejukkan, pastu masukkan telur dan kacau sebati. yis di larutkan dlm air dengan 1 sdt gula dan biar kembang. Satukan tepung dengan garam, shortening dan susu. gaul sebati. kemudian masukkan campuran telur dan marjerin and masukkan yis dan air. kacau sebati dan perap lebihkurang 3-4 jam. Bentukkan dan goreng dlm minyak panas. kuah kacang 5 btg cili kering - digoreng dlm minyak 1 labu bwg besar - dipotong kasar dan digoreng hingga layu tak perlu hingga garing sengengggam kacang tanah - digoreng tanpa minyak gula, garam dan air asam jawa - sesedap rasa blend cili kering dan kacang tanah bersama air dlm blender. blend atau tumbuk bawang yg digoreng tadi. panaskan minyak tumis bawang dahulu dah naik bau dan agak garing masukkan kacang dan cili yang dah diblend. tambah air jika perlu. kemudian biar didih seketika dan masukkan gula, garam dan air asam sesedap rasa.  3) Yau Char Kwai Our group of Malaysian ladies attempted making Yau Char Kwai this month. We tried out two recipes and one turn out really well and one failed miserably. Not sure what went wrong with the failed recipe as we follow the ingredients and instructions to the T. Anyhow, we were glad Agnes Chang recipe turns out so well with less work and proofing time compare to the other one. The YCK were light with hollow texture on the inside. So the next time if we are going to make this again we will just stick to this recipe. For more information about the Chinese Crullers/Yau Char Kwai please readhere. As for more information on Ammonia Powder please refer to here. For me information for Alum please refer here .  Ingredients A (Adapted from Agnes Chang’s Hawker’s Delights with minor changes) 1 tsp dried yeast 1 tsp sugar 2 tbsp lukewarm water Ingredients B 250 ml water 1 tsp baking soda ½ tsp Ammonia powder (chow fun) ½ tsp of Alum (pak fun) Ingredient C 300 grm bread flour (we used 320 grm) 1 tsp salt (I put both successful and failed YCK together for comparison. Just look at the difference in size) 1. Mix all the ingredients A and set it aside for 10 – 15 minutes until it get foamy. 2. Mix ingredients B. Sift ingredient C into a mixing bowl. Add in mixture of A and B into the flour. Used a wooden spoon, mix the dough until well combined. Knead it for 5 minutes and if the dough is too sticky to work with add a little bit more flour. 3. Cover with a plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 2 hours. 4. Turn the dough out to the well floured work surface. Sprinkle some flour on the dough and roll the dough out into a long rectangle. Cut into 1” strips. Place two strips, one on top of each. Let it rest for another 5 minutes. 5. In the meantime, prepare oil for deep frying.  6. Press lightly on the two strips of dough with a chopstick. Holds both ends of the dough and stretch the strips a little and lower into hot oil. Deep fry, turning constantly until each cruller turns puffy and golden brown.  Note: The dough is pretty sticky to work with so make sure your work surface, hands and utensils are well coated with flour. 4) PA THONG KO (THAI VERSI) I chuckled when reading up on the history of these Chinese crullers, you tiao (油条), which have been localized in Thailand into Pa Thong Ko (ปาท่องโก๋). According to the widely-circulated Chinese folk etymology, these pairs of dough sticks apparently represent two evil people who deserve to suffer in hot oil. To the Thai people, the conjoined crullers represent something cuter and more romantic: a couple who are deeply attached to one another and seen together all the time. Symbols and figures of speech behave like that across the various cultures. The Zealous Water Buffalo, my alter ego, has written about these things. Another funny thing about Pa Thong Ko: it is a misnomer resulted from confusion on the Thai’s part over the various goodies sold by Chinese immigrants from years ago; it’s not even a localized pronunciation of the original Chinese, but a wrong name altogether. We could have gone with something close toyou char kway (油炸粿) or something similar to that as the Chinese words that have entered our vernacular often come from the Hokkien or Teochew dialects. But, apparently, a mistake was made a while back and it has stuck with us ever since. In other words, unless you speak to someone who knows Chinese, your inquiry about youtiao or you char kway in Thailand will be met with a,”Huh?“ More differences. Pa Thong Ko comes in smaller size — generally around 3-4 inches in length whereas youtiao could be as long as a couple of feet. Also, when I was growing up — maybe it’s my imagination — Pa Thong Ko seemed to resemble their Chinese prototype more both in terms of appearance (blistered, bubbly, crispy exterior) and texture (soft and slightly chewy with honeycomb-like crumb). These days, they seem to have morphed into crullers that look smoother on the surface, more crusty than crispy on the outside, and doughy on the inside. Rarely do you find Pa Thong Ko made the way they were years ago. (I’m not complaining; I’m just reporting what I’ve found. In fact, what you see here is my attempt at replicating Pa Thong Ko as they are made these days, albeit more crispy than crusty.) Also, the Thai people like to eat these crullers with sweetened condensed milk, coffee, or dipping custard, Sangkhaya (สังขยา). They are also served with Chinese congee, jok (โจ๊ก). Note that there’s another kind of fried dough that is also called Pa Thong Ko, but it’s almost entirely different from what’s in view here. This type of Pa Thong Ko is smaller, fried until thoroughly crispy, and served as an accompaniment to Chinese-style soybean curd in warm ginger syrup (เต้าฮวยน้ำขิง). Enough with the background information. Let’s talk about how to make these crullers. First of all — and this may sound harsh — assuming my opinion means anything to you: if you see recipes for Pa Thong Ko that don’t call for both baking ammonia and alum powder, I wouldn’t even think about messing around with them. I’m serious. That’s the whole point of being a recipe tester: I waste my time and money, so you won’t have to. And, boy, did I do just that. With just baking powder, your Pa Thong Ko will be doughnut-like, and you and I both know Pa Thong Ko aren’t doughnut-like. With just baking soda, your Pa Thong Ko come out crusty (as opposed to crispy) on the outside and hollow on the inside. Again, we both know that doesn’t describe good Pa Thong Ko. My recipe takes no chances. It has ammonia, alum, and yeast. Baking powder is added at the last stage just before the dough is formed to give it a lift in the deep-fryer. The result is Pa Thong Ko with open crumb (but not hollow) and crispy exterior. When you bite into one, it collapses between your teeth. No bouncy resistance as is the case with yeast doughnuts. The ammonia also gives the crullers that familiar scent that’s just faint enough to be pleasantly reminiscent of Pa Thong Ko from the streets of Bangkok, but not so strong that it reminds you of … I’ll shut up now. I’ll admit, though, that even though this recipe represents my best attempt to date, I still won’t give it an A or an A+. Maybe a B+. I’m satisfied with the texture and flavor, but shaping the dough into pairs of Pa Thong Ko in a uniformed manner is still a struggle for me. This is because the dough is wet. It has to be wet; otherwise, you won’t get the open crumb. Adding more flour to the dough defeats this purpose. Keeping the flour at this amount presents a bit of a problem for an amateur Pa Thong Ko maker like me as the two pieces of dough tend to merge together a little too seamlessly. You see, well-formed pairs of Pa Thong Ko kind of have to remain visibly two separate entities conjoined in the middle. It’s going to take some practice. I don’t even try to come up with a more creative way of shaping Pa Thong Ko. Forget dragon-shaped Pa Thong Ko or dinosaur-shaped Pa Thong Ko; I have a hard enough time making the classic shape. The rest is pretty easy, actually. The recipe has produced very consistent results for me during the past several months of testing and retesting. Be sure to secure all the necessary ingredients. Alum powder is found either in the spice aisle or canning aisle. Ammonia powder is a little harder to find at a local supermarket, but you can find it online easily. Lastly, have some sweetened condensed milk around — like I need to tell you that — to dip these crullers in. I don’t care much for Pa Thong Ko dipped in Thai dipping custard (sangkhaya), but sweetened condensed milk — hohohohohoho. 5) CHINESE CRULLER On how to make it at home, here is the recipe ... Pic: You Tiao and the salty soybean milk Crispy Chinese Crullers ( You Tiau ) 6 cups ( 1 1/3 lbs ) high protein flour 2 cups water (A) 2 tsp. ammonium bicarbonate or 1 Tbs. baking powder 2 tsp. baking soda 1 1/2 tsp. alum ( food grade ) 1 1/2 tsp. salt Oil Place ingredients of (A) in a mixing bowl; add water and stir until the ingredients have dissolved. Add flour and mix well; let stand for 15-20 minutes. Continue to take some dough around edges and drop it into the center of the bowl 3 or 4 times until the dough is elastic and smooth. Turn the dough over and lightly coat the surface with oil so that the dough will stay moist. Let it stand for 1 hr. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a sheet of plastic wrap; wrap the dough and form it into a rectangular shape. Let is stand for 4 hours. If a large batch is made, cut the dough into several 1 1/3 lbs pieces then wrap each pieces in a sheet of plastic wrap. Unwrap the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough and stretch it into a long strip. Roll the dough into a rectangular shape. 3" wide and 1/2" thick. Crosswise cut the rectangular shape dough into strips 1/3" wide. Put 2 strips on top of each other; use a thin rod ( skewer ) or the back of a cleaver to press lengthwise in middle of the strips; this will attach them securely to each other. Follow the same step for the other strips. Heat the oil for deep-frying; pick up a strip from the ends and gently stretch it to make it longer. Carefully drop it into the hot oil and turn it over continuously with chopsticks until the crueller expands and turns golden brown; remove. To eat You Tiau with salty soybean milk, here is how ... Place the crispy You Tiau, dried shrimp, Szechuan pickled mustard green, green onions, coriander, pork sung ( dried pork shredded/ Abon ), vinegar, chili oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt in a medium size bowl. Pour the boil soybean milk into the bowl and serve. Pic: Szechuan pickled mustard green The You Tiau may be placed in split " Flaky Sesame Flat Breads " or Shao Bing. This way is my husband favorite way to eat You Tiau.