Deep-Fried Dough

The title says it all really.  I mean, what is better than deep-fried bread?  Malaysia does fried snacks pretty well, so I'm going to introduce you to some of the most popular ones in this post.

You Tiao

These can be literally translated as 'oil sticks', so you can imagine how (un)healthy they are for you.  Nonetheless, their yummy rating is so high and they seem so light that I can more often or not momentarily forget about my arteries clogging up and stuff my face with about 10 at a time.  You tiao come in pairs, and they should be crisp on the outside and fairly airy on the inside.

Fatty oily savoury goodness

Sesame Sticks

These are pretty similar to you tiao, except that the former are shorter, slightly sweet and covered in sesame seeds.  I have to say that these are my favourite!

Sesame heaven

Sesame Spheres

You can probably tell by now that I love anything sesame-related!  On the outside these little spheres consist of slightly chewy dough covered by crispy sesame seeds, and inside you'll find a sweet sesame paste filling.

Sesame overload!

Plain or Filled Buns

These buns are made out of the same sort of dough as the you tiao and sesame sticks.  Some are plain while others are filled with red bean (hence the latter is a sweet snack).  

The buns are coated with a light smattering of sesame seeds

Pandan Lotus Buns

Slightly flatter than the buns described above, these are filled with pandan (a type of leaf found in Malaysia - really difficult to describe what it tastes like but perhaps slightly like citrusy-coconut) and lotus.  They are slightly sweet.

They look a bit like (very) fat slices of toast!

Yam and Sweet Potato Spheres

The texture of these is similar to that of the sesame spheres described above, save that you don't get the crispness of the sesame lining.  The ones filled with sweet potato are darker in colour than the yam variety.

Sweet potato on the left; yam on the right

Once again, not the healthiest of snacks but they're great every now and then!