The Fried Dough Ho

Yes, this is food from Panda Express; I suppose the dirge of Americanized Chinese food. Perhaps that is a stretch; they DO use fresh ingredients and DO NOT add MSG. But their best-selling dish is Orange Chicken with a serving size of 5.4 ounces comes in at 400 calories with 640 mg of sodium. Add fried rice with that and a 5 ounce serving comes in at 450 mg of sodium. And there is a Panda Express about fifty steps from my apartment which makes it all that much harder when I get jonesing for some fried dough.

The Crab Rangoon is not Chinese. It is a won-ton skin (essentially an eggroll wrapper which is an egg- and flour-based dough, rolled out very thin to contain a variety of ingredients). Some reports Crab Rangoon to have been developed in the 1950s for Trader Vic’s, possibly having come via Burma. For it is certain isn’t Chinese since its main filling is cream cheese studded with crab meat and scallions. Honestly, I don’t think I have ever detected a bit of crab — or even fake krab, known as surimi — within the Panda Express versions. But they ARE fried dough and along with their Spring Rolls, occasionally help me get over those cravings I get for fried dough.

It is bad and I admit it. The Crab Rangoon order contains three pouches at 190 calories with 180 mg of sodium. The Spring Rolls (vegetarian, ostensibly!), where you get two, are 160 calories but a whopping 540 mg of sodium. And then there is their sweet-and-sour sauce. Horrific, glowing orange-red sauce mostly based on corn syrup, that is 80 calories all on its own, with 180 mg of sodium. Perhaps by confessing this addiction, it will help me break from it. I know it is bad and I know it is fake and I know how detrimental it is to my overall well-being.

My name is Carrie and I am a Fried Dough Ho.

I admit it — I get pretty psyched when I see savory versions of fried dough. Well, truth be told, I’ve only written about one version and so far, I experienced a total of three that I can remember. It was an unexpected surprise when some darling friends took me to dinner at Michael Chiarello’s Bottega in the Napa Valley (Yountville, to be exact) and I was directed towards a fried dough appetizer. I didn’t even recognize it as such when I read it on the menu: Organic Prosciutto “house cured”, pasta fritta, Lambrusco

“Fritta” means fried and it slipped by me until Ron described it. Well of course I had to have it… Served on a large platter were four massive fritters; pasta dough studded with rosemary, deep fried, and then rolled in Parmesan cheese. These warm globules of goodness were served alongside paper-thin slices of prosciutto which had been drizzled with olive oil and topped with a few chunks of mango.

What threw me was the bowl of Lambrusco. When the platter arrived, I hadn’t remembered everything that was written and I thought the bowl was some form of dipping sauce. Ron was the one who told me it was to drink and I felt pretty foolish, dunking the tender, cheesy wonders in the bubbly cold wine. But when a bite of the fritter and prosciutto were taken and followed by the Lambrusco, I had the “ah-ha” moment. The lightly bubbly wine was clean and bright next to the rich sharpness of the cheese coating to the dense, succulent dough.

I give great credit to Chiarello and his team on this dish. It would be easy to make a dough that is leaden and heavy and these were not. It would be easy to under cook them and there was no detection of a gooey, raw interior.  A traditional “dipping sauce” might seem an easier complement but by pairing it with meat and wine and fruit were inventive and original. Kudos are deserved and this Fried Dough Ho couldn’t be happier.

The sub-title of this blog is “doughnuts and more” and while I have briefly bantered about beignets, I have not yet ventured into the myriad of other ethnic fried dough offerings until now. And that my first savory offering is one of my favorite Japanese tastes, is not surprising that it is, in fact, a fried dough.

Takoyaki (たこ焼き or 蛸焼) means “pan-fried octopus” and while occasionally baked, they are most assuredly usually fried. It was a grand adventure with two darling friends to one of the only two restaurants in San Francisco that offer takoyaki, Tampopo — a restaurant more known for its affordable and bountiful bowls of noodles.

This coming weekend is the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco and there will be long lines of people waiting for this classic street food which originated in Osaka. Perhaps I will be able to sneak out of my booth to snap a picture, as it is easily the one food booth that consistently has the longest line.

About the size of a golf ball, takoyaki are made from a simple egg-based batter with flour where the liquid component is dashi a clear broth traditionally made from sea kelp. Dashi is the broth which forms the base for miso soup. The combination of the three ingredients produces a smooth, luxurious batter into which is added chopped boiled baby octopus and sometimes diced ginger, shrimp, and a little green onion.

Once mixed together, the dough is poured into a special cast-iron pan which is akin to the Dutch æbleskive pan with half-round indentations. The chef deftly spins the frying batter into the golden orbs which are then served with very distinctive toppings; mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce*, shaved bonito flakes, and a very fine sprinkling of aonori. The okonomiyaki sauce is thick, dark and rich and is part soy, ketchup, Worcestershire, and a few other tasty ingredients. Aonori, or green laver, is yet another type of seaweed which is pungent and a bit tangy.

If you have the preconceived notion of most fried doughs having a firm or crunchy exterior to them, here it is not the case; takoyaki are tender and soft. The interior can often still be a bit gooey but finding that special tendril or rich octopus bite inside is the real treat. While I know of Japanese school children being given takoyaki in their bento lunch boxes, they are best eaten warm. This way you can see the paper-thin bonito flakes dancing back and forth due to the heat from the seafood balls. A treat, if you can find them — and worth seeking out.

*Okonomiyaki is a type of savory pancake — another favorite of mine — a grilled batter stuffed with ingredients like shrimp, pork, cabbage, and also topped with the same ingredients that go on takoyaki.

1740 Buchanan St
(between Post St & Sutter St)
San Francisco, CA 94115
Neighborhoods: Pacific Heights, Lower Pac Heights, Japantown
(415) 346-7132