Mahua: Twisty Chinese Fried Snacks

Name: Mahua: Twisty Chinese Fried Snacks
Yield: 16 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 120 grams Bread (strong) flour; 120 grams Cake flour; 100 grams Water; 50 grams Sugar; 1 tbsp Sesame oil (or vegetable oil); 1/2 tsp Salt; 1/2 tsp Baking powder (optional); 1 Oil for deep frying

cookpad.japan @cookpad_jp

These are called various things depending on the manufacturer. If you go to Chinatown, you can always buy these. They are very simple, but you won't tire of them. The key to these is that firm, chewy texture, but if you make them yourself you can make them as hard or soft as you like! Shaping these is a lot of fun.

As long as you know how to form these they are not hard to make. If you are making these for the first time, you can use half of the dough to experiment. They are more nutty and fragrant if you fry them to the point where you think they might be a bit overdone. If you omit the baking powder they'll be even harder. If you prefer them to be softer though, try using 140 g of cake flour and 100 g of bread flour. For 14 to 16 mahua. Recipe by Kototama

cookpad.japan @cookpad_jp

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Ingredients

16 servings

120 gramsBread (strong) flour
120 gramsCake flour
100 gramsWater
50 gramsSugar
1 tbspSesame oil (or vegetable oil)
1/2 tspSalt
1/2 tspBaking powder (optional)
1Oil for deep frying

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Steps

1

Preliminaries: Measure out the ingredients. Sift the flours.
2

Mix all the ingredients together.
3

Start mixing lightly with chopsticks, then knead with your hands.
4

When it is no longer floury and the dough is smooth and cohesive, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest for more than 30 minutes.
5

If you rest the dough it stretches out easily. Knead lightly to soften, and then start shaping the dough.
6

Divide the rested dough into 14 to 16 equal portions.
7

Roll each portion into a ball. Keep the dough you're not working on covered to prevent it from drying out. Open a hole in the middle of a dough ball.
8

Use your fingers to slowly stretch open the hole, to form a ring with the dough. You don't need any flour for dusting.
9

Make a ring of dough; the dough should be a bit less than 1 cm thick. The thinner the dough, the better the texture will be. It should be about 30 to 40 cm long when you fold the circle in half.
10

Hold both ends and start twisting.
11

Keep twisting tighter and tighter.
12

If you hold the middle and bring the ends together, it will become twisted on its own.
13

It's now a twisted stick. Neaten out the shape.
14

If you put one end in the ring on the other end, they won't fall apart while frying.
15

Deep fry the sticks slowly in fairly cool oil, for about 5 minutes. Cook them through thoroughly to harden them.
16

When they are a nice golden brown, they are done. Once they are totally cool, they'll become hard and break with a snap, almost like a biscuit.