Vegan Za’atar Youtiao (油條)
Have you ever heard of Youtiao (油條)? Well if you didn’t know, Youtiao is a long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough that is a food commonly eaten in China and in many other Asian countries such as Taiwan.
If you are disgusted by the looks of this snack, don’t knock it till you try it! It is basically a savory version of a churro or doughnut and is a delicious fried dough that many enjoy with their morning congee, soy milk, or stuffed in a sticky rice roll (also known as 飯團).
Fun fact: Living in Hong Kong, we call this fried dough 油炸鬼 which translates to “oil fry ghost”.
If you prefer sweet foods over savory, one of my all time favorite ways to enjoy this food is to stuff it in a sticky rice roll but instead of adding pork floss and fermented cabbage, I like to sprinkle on some sugar for a sweet balance.
This snack is incredibly versatile as it is essentially just a fried dough so in this recipe, I created a Za’atar version of it as well as a cinnamon sugar version. Both versions are plant-based, which means that it is made with ingredients that are better for our planet. Although my recipe is definitely not authentic, the process of experimenting with different flavors & seasonings was extremely fun & I hope you enjoy this recipe.
Ingredients
Dough:
*200g All-purpose wholewheat flour (or plain wheat which yields more authentic results)
*1/2 tsp Baking soda
*1 tsp Baking powder
*145g Almond milk (or any plant-based milk)
*1/2 tsp Salt
*1 tbsp Oil (coconut or olive oil)
*Oil enough for frying
Za'atar mixture:
*2 tbsp Olive oil
*2 tbsp Za’atar seasoning
Method:
Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, & salt together in one bowl
Then add in your plant-based milk of choice & oil of choice to the dry batter. Mix well until the dough is smooth.
Place the dough back into the bowl, cover with a damp towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
While you wait for the dough to rest, prepare your Za’atar mixture by mixing together olive oil & Za’atar seasoning in a bowl.
After 30 minutes, cut the dough into two halves, shape the dough with your hands into long dough (you can see in step below for reference). Brush Za’atar olive oil mixture onto the dough, put the two long doughs in a food container/ box and let it rest in the fridge overnight.
6. Take the food container out of the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
7. Take a cutting board & rolling pin to gently roll the doughs flat (about 0.5 cm thick).
8. Cut the flat dough into equal portions and place one on top of the other (as seen in step of the instructions) Then take a chopstick & press down in the middle of the dough.
9. Add enough oil to a frying pan and let it heat up.
10. To test the oil temperature, use a wooden chopstick and place it into oil. If lots of little bubbles form quickly around the chopstick, it means the oil temperature is good for frying, now turn the heat to low.
11. Stretch out your dough and drop it carefully into the oil. Let it fry for around 2 minutes on one side (or until golden brown) & flip over to fry the other side. Repeat the process and you will end up with around 6 Youtiao)
12. Enjoy it while it's warm!
For video instruction, see my reel here: