Soy milk and the devil fried in oil

Locals mix fried dough sticks, pork floss, and seasonings into a bowl of soy milk, mix it all together, and drink it like porridge. If you want to try this, you have to go in the morning, as most Taiwanese breakfast shops close after 12 noon.

I stopped by YongHe Soy Milk King near the MRT station, bought a cup of hot soy milk with good quality fried dough sticks for around NT$20 (about VND15,000). Here, you can freely choose traditional Taiwanese breakfast foods, with all kinds like egg crepes, sticky rice rolls... Enjoying fried dough sticks mixed with hot, fragrant soy milk in the chilly air of Taipei morning gives you a very light feeling. I like lazy days like this, no need to jostle in crowded markets with tourists, just leisurely enjoying local life.

Fried fried dough sticks are easy to make. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, water, then stuff with eggs. Let it rest for about an hour, then roll the dough into long pieces. Put two pieces together and fry until you have a golden, crispy, and delicious “fried dough stick”.

Fried dough sticks originated from a historical story, when the brilliant military leader Yue Fei was framed by the treacherous minister Qin Hui and his wife. The people were angry, so they molded dough into the shape of the couple and fried them in oil, symbolizing the punishment of demons in a cauldron of oil when they went to hell. From then on, the dish “yàuhjagwái” (Du tac quy) - fried dough sticks was born.

More interestingly, in each country, fried dough sticks have a different variation. If in Taiwan, fried dough sticks, pork floss, onions and spices are mixed with hot soy milk like porridge, then in Singapore, there is a dish of fried dough sticks stuffed with fish, sometimes squid (sotong), eaten with mayonnaise sauce. In Vietnam, we eat fried dough sticks with hot pho (Hanoi). In Thailand, Laos, China… you will see many other versions of fried dough sticks.

Article: Truc Photo: Thanh Liem

The Thanh