Snack

Sanzi

馓子 • sǎn zi

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp black sesame seeds

2 tbsp olive oil

canola oil

Make the Dough

  1. Add flour, olive oil, sesame seeds, eggs, and water to a bowl.

  2. Add salt (or if you want a sweeter snack, replace the salt with 2 tbsp of sugar) to the bowl as well.

  3. Stir until the ingredients all come together.

  4. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes until it's a medium-soft dough.

  5. Cover the bowl and set in a warm place for an hour. We usually heat the oven to 170, then turn the oven off, put the bowl in, and keep the oven door slightly open. About half an hour in, knead the dough once more.

Make the Sanzi

  1. Roll the dough out to a thin slab about 1/6 inch thick.

  2. Cut the slab into about 2-inch wide strips (doesn't have to be perfect, as you can see from ours 😁).

  3. Take each strip, and cut it into about 4-5 rectangles.

  4. Take one of the rectangles, and roll it out a little more. Fold it in half.

  5. With the closed, folded side towards you, make 4-5 cuts from about 1/8 inch from the top. Make sure your cuts go through both layers.

  6. Unfold the rectangle and then take one corner and fold it towards its opposite corner to create a fan shape. Press hard where the two corners meet to seal.

  7. Repeat steps 4-7 with each rectangle.

Fry the Sanzi

  1. Prep a big plate with some paper towels on top.

  2. Heat a wok or deep pan to high heat.

  3. Add 4-5 cups of canola oil and cover the pot with a lid.

  4. Once the oil is hot enough to fry (if you dip a wooden utensil in the oil and see bubbles appear around it, it's hot enough), you're ready to start frying!

  5. Lower the heat to medium and add 5-6 sanzi at a time.

  6. After about a minute, flip the sanzi to the other side.

  7. After about another minute, both sides should be light brown. You can fry them for a little longer if you want a crunchier snack, then remove them and transfer to the paper-toweled plate. Note that as you continue to fry, the oil will get hotter and hotter, in later rounds, each side will only need about 30 seconds to fry. Just keep an eye on them!

  8. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and then enjoy!