It was a dish meant for the celebration of the Chinese New Year, but due to work commitments, I never had a chance to get down to preparing it until now.
This is a traditional Chinese ‘sandwich’ of sorts, with bread as per the Western sandwiches, but with a different filling that melts in the mouth, thus allowing it to stand out among its variants.
Ingredients:
- Egg: 2, lightly beaten
- Self-raising flour: 110g
- Baking powder: 1/2 tsp
- Water: 100ml
- Sesame oil: 2 tsp
- Pepper: to taste
- Freshly baked bread: 8 slices
- Nian Gao: 1 small cake, sliced into 8 pieces
- Toothpicks: About 30 pieces
- Oil: enough for deep frying
Method:
- Heat oil for deep frying.
- Mix egg, flour and baking powder together.
- Pour in water. Add sesame oil and pepper. Mix well.
- Fold each slice of bread over 1 slice of nian gao so that it becomes halved. Secure the sides with toothpicks.
- Dip sandwich into batter and deep fry till golden brown (about 5min).
- Dap with paper serviettes to remove oil.
- Remove toothpicks before serving.
Tricks:
- Use double acting baking powder to ensure that the batter rises.
- Use a frying wok instead of a commercial deep fryer to prevent the batter from sticking to the sides of the dipping pan.
- Use sweet potatoes to substitute the bread for an authentic Teochew dish.
Serving:
4 persons
