Zha Chuan (Deep-fried Skewers)
It's not a skewer! It's a magical skewer that fries without clothes and paints a secret sauce
Description
Japanese Kushikatsu uses thick breading. The massively popular Chinese night market 'Zha Chuan' deep-fries meat and vegetables [WITHOUT batter] in high-heat oil. The exact second they emerge, they are aggressively brushed with a 'secret spice glaze' blending cumin, chili, and sweet bean sauce. An intense junk food.
Restaurants serving Zha Chuan (Deep-fried Skewers)
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We are researching restaurants that serve this dish.
On this site you can check dictionary details and, later, places to buy or eat related items.
The Recipe section below is a general reference, not a recipe from the listed shops.
Recipe
Ingredients
- Any ingredients(Meat/Veg/Fishcakes)
- Frying oil
- Sweet bean sauce
- Cumin powder
- Chili powder
- White sesame
- Sichuan pepper
Instructions
- [Authentic Recipe & Trends]
- (Skewer Prep) Skewer bite-sized pieces of literally anything: pork, beef, chicken, sausage, quail eggs, broccoli, dried tofu, enoki, lotus root.
- (Frying Technique) Use zero batter (or a microscopic starch wash). Drop skewers directly into 180°C+ oil, flash-frying bare until the surface is crispy. (Vegetables are pulled in seconds to stay vivid).
- [The Flavor Core (Secret Sauce)]: Varies by shop, but generally a thick, heated oil paste blending 'Sweet Bean Sauce', 'Gochujang', 'Oyster Sauce', 'Cumin Powder', 'Sichuan Pepper', 'Chili', and 'Sesame'.
- The exact second the piping hot skewers leave the oil, aggressively paint every crevice front and back with this spiced glaze.
- Finish with an extra dusting of dry cumin and chili.
Learn more Spice, substitutes, tips
Key spices
Cumin aroma and the junk-food sweet-spiciness of sweet bean sauce
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
(Flash-fry Japanese Yakitori/veg and brush with spices)
Pairing
Cold Beer (Ultimate partner) / Milk Tea
Trivia
[Trivia] There is always a Zha Chuan stall near Chinese schools, where students mass-buy dozens of skewers on their way home. It is jokingly said, 'If you deep-fry it and paint it with this sauce, even a shoe sole would taste delicious'. The destructive power of this sauce is absolute.
Eating tips & etiquette
[Unique Eating] Pull skewers one after another from a mountain piled in a paper cup while walking. The flash-fried, roasted ingredients are perfectly glued with the thick, sweet-spicy sauce, causing beer to disappear like water.
Allergen
Wheat, Soybeans, Sesame (depends on ingredients)