Caramelized Egg Fritters (Sa Chi Ma /萨琪玛)

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Sachima (萨琪玛） takes me back to my early years. When I was younger, I really liked eating this. They taste very good. They are popular snacks for both adults and children, and they are the ideal edible gift for Chinese New Year.  

Making sachima dough is like making egg noodles. So, basically, they are egg noodles that have been deep-fried till they are puffed, occasionally topped with additional ingredients for flavor, bonded together with melted sugar, pressed into a square pan, and then sliced into squares.



Sachima is distinguished by its beige hue, crisp and delicate flavor, sweetness and delectability, and rich maltose aroma. One of Ipoh, Malaysia's regional specialties!  A few years ago, my husband and I made a trip to Ipoh's "Mistress Lane" (二奶巷) to try the local Sachima, which has been there for more than 50 years. There are a lot of different kinds of sachima including ones with sesame, pumpkin seed, walnuts, cranberries, and almonds. According to the workers, the reason sachima looks glossy is because it includes maltose. The sachima will look burnt rather than shiny if it is prepared entirely using white sugar.

Cooking the water syrup is the most crucial step. The syrup must be cooked until it is thick which you can test it with a drop of some syrup in a bowl of cold water will not spread, indicating that the sugar syrup is thick enough. 

I'm using baking paper to line an 8" square pan. You can use a square tin foil basin instead of lining it with baking paper.

INGREDIENTS

Egg Dough

180g High Protein flour

2 eggs

20g melt butter

some potato starch (for dusting)

1/8 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

Add on ingredients

10g toasted pumpkin seeds

½ tbsp toasted black sesame seeds

½ tbsp toasted white sesame seeds

1 ½ tbsp desiccated Coconut

Sugar syrup

195g maltose

135g sugar

75ml water



METHOD

1. Combine the baking powder and high-protein flour. Put the eggs, salt, and melted butter into a mixing bowl, Mix it well with a hand whisk.  Slowly add in flour, mix and knead until you get a smooth dough. Cover the dough and let it rest for half an hour.

2.  After half an hour, cut the dough in half. Work with one at a time and keep the other covered. Dusted some potato starch on the working surface as well as the dough. Roll the dough into pieces about 1/8-inch (about 3 mm) thick.  Cut into 3 small pieces. Cut into strips about one inch wide. Toss with potato starch to prevent noodles from sticking to each other and set aside.

3. Heat up some cooking oil in a wok. Slowly add the noodles to the wok over medium-high heat. Fry the dough strips in batches until they float to the top and puffy, about 3-5 seconds or so. Don’t overcook them.  

4. Mix all ingredients for syrup in a large wok or large deep heavy-bottom pot. Cook over low-medium heat until sugar and maltose are dissolve, and the mixture is bubbly and foamy and thicken slightly, about 10 minutes. You may drop some water syrup into a bowl of cold water and do not spread. If you use a candy thermometer, it should be around 118°C.

5. While preparing the water syrup, line a baking paper with the pan and sprinkle some shredded coconut in it.

6. Once the water syrup is ready, turn off the heat, add in the fried dough strips together with the toasted sesame seed, pumpkin seeds and desiccated coconut, give it a quick stir to let all the dough stirps well coated with the syrup and stick to each other while it’s still hot.

7. Transfer right away to the prepared pan, spread out as much as you can, and then use baking paper or parchment on top to press everything down evenly.

8. Allow it to cool slightly while it's still warm and then use a knife to cut it into squares of any size. They can be stored for weeks if you keep them in an airtight container.

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