Ingredients:
-260g bread flour
-30g wheat starch
-1/3 tsp baking ammonia
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp baking powder
-180g water

What to Do:
Mix together flour and baking powder. Dissolve salt and baking ammonia in water and add to flour mixture. Knead to form a wet sticky dough. Rest dough for 15 mins, shape and fry.

Notes:
-Can use 290g all purpose flour instead.
-Adujust water if needed (to get dough that's wet and sticky)
-The longer you rest the dough after shaping the YCKs the puffier it get when fried.


Comments (18)

On 8:31 AM , rokh said...

thumbs up! these look absolutely authentic and yummy!

 
On 8:34 PM , Little Corner of Mine said...

Agreed! Looks like the real thing!

 
On 10:13 PM , Anonymous said...

Hi tt

Yesterday, I tried your recipe and the yu char kway was really hard.

After making the dough, i left it for 1.5 hrs before i fried them....the longer the fluffier the yck....

The skin is really hard. My boys said their jaw is aching from chewing them..... hehehe

 
On 12:34 AM , hoangtam/tt said...

do you mean hard or chewy?

Try frying at a higher temp.

 
On 8:59 PM , Anonymous said...

Hi tt

Sorry, i am not familiar with the system of writing my message to you and thus left out my name.

I read Lily's Wai Sek Hong 's yck recipe and as her blog is linked to yours and both of you had a discussion on yck.

My yck turned out hard....it did not fluff/expand much....thus the skin was very hard...but the inside was like the normal yck.

Your recipe use baking powder whereas Lily's uses double action baking powder..... i suppose it does not matter.

Thanks

 
On 2:45 PM , hoangtam/tt said...

ellen,
did you cover the ycks when they were resting? How was the texture of the dough (was it sticky)? The baking ammonia is the main leavener and baking powder is only the "helper". If you plan on resting the dough then I suggest using double acting baking powder. If you use single acting baking powder, by the time you finish resting the dough most of the bubbles from the baking powder have probably already escaped; thus when you fry it there's not much "puff" left to make the ycks outter texture light and fluffy.

*TT

 
On 10:39 PM , Anonymous said...

Hi tt

I tried again yesterday.

This time i put 240 ml water and whew......it was sticky !!!

I normally put the dough to rest in the oven without covering. I let the dough rest longer hoping it will puff more....not that i enjoy waiting.

Yesterday's yck was better in that it was not hard.

When I lift the 2 pieces of dough which stuck together, stretched it before i put it in the wok to fry ....yeeks.....it was terribly messy....the dough stuck to my fingers.......and by the time they left my fingers and went into the wok....they did not puff much during frying !!hehehe

It was a consolation that 1 had a piece of dough left which was by itself....so instead of wasting it, I fried it and it turned out fluffy, small and cute and crispy !!

I was waiting to taste that piece but my maid thinking that it was the smallest piece took it and I was hunting high and low for it.

Will try again but this time I may not fry with 2 pcs dough sticked together but instead single pc.

Thanks a lot.

 
On 12:20 AM , hoangtam/tt said...

ellen,

may I ask where are you located? 240g of water might a be a little much the dough should be moist and sticky but not "messy" to deal with. I think you problem is the water content try using 200-210 g of water.

*TT

 
On 10:16 PM , Anonymous said...

Hi tt

I also think it must be the water...too little and the yck is hard.....

too much ......it's a messy affair

Actually the 2 pcs of dough got stucked.....probably got married and became one as well....because when i fried them, it's only one yck and not two.....hehehe

at 200ml water, the dough was still normal.....maybe as suggested, i will try at 220ml.

Thanks and warm regards.

 
On 7:12 PM , Anonymous said...

Hi tt

Last night, I use 220ml water.... and the yck was hard.....

It did not fluff up much........i think maybe i let it rest too long, also 1.5 hrs.......too lazy to work after resting, hehehe.......

 
On 11:11 PM , hoangtam/tt said...

ellen,
what kind of baking powder did you use this time? Maybe it has to do with your location....the type of flour you are using might be different from the kind I use in the US. Just play around and you'll get it perfect!

 
On 9:45 PM , Anonymous said...

Hi tt

I am from Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.

I have tried frying after 15 mins rest.....the result is the same....did not fluff up much.

I think I will give up for the time being. Thanks for all your help.

 
On 8:27 PM , hoangtam/tt said...

ellen,
don't give up ;) have you tried with more ammonia?

*TT

 
On 1:17 AM , Anonymous said...

Hi tt

Something just crossed my mind....how long do you have to mix the dough....ie knead the dough ???....using hands only....since it is so sticky...

Thanks

 
On 2:08 AM , hoangtam/tt said...

ellen,
i just work the dough enough to combine all of the ingredients.....let's say about 3 mins. top.

*TT

 
On 4:24 PM , Anonymous said...

Hello tt,

This is NhumiSD from San Diego, Cali. Ive tried your recipe using yeast, but didnt know I had to let it rised after forming, and before frying. :) Can I ask which is the easiest and best recipe for making these YCK).

Thanks,

-NhumiSD

 
On 1:03 AM , hoangtam/tt said...

nhumi,

they're all easy to make, but the recipe that will give you the best texture and flavor is this one.

 
On 10:42 AM , Anonymous said...

Hi TT

Where I can find Ammonium Carbonate (BỘT KHAI ) in San Diego, USA. I'm learning to cook and really love to make some of chiness recipes.I'm looking foward to your answer. Thank you