Jiān duī are fried glutinous rice balls — a thin shell of glutinous rice flour dough, filled with sweet lotus seed paste or red bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds, and deep-fried until the outside is golden and crunchy and the interior is chewy and hollow. The hollow is not a flaw in technique. It […]

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Yóutiáo are fried dough sticks — two strips of leavened wheat dough pressed together at the center, stretched long, and dropped into hot oil where they puff and expand into a hollow, golden baton. The exterior is crisp. The interior is airy and soft, with a slight chew and almost no sweetness — yóutiáo are […]

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