Savory and sweet sesame seeds dough is shaped into twisted ribbons and then fried until crispy. Such a perfect snack and a popular one for Chinese New Year celebrations.
Mix flour and oil. Rub the oil into the flour until they form coarse crumbs. This will produce a crispy and flaky biscuit. Add sugar, salt, and sesame seeds. Add 1 egg yolk and water continue to knead until you get a dough. The dough is at the dry side and that's normal. Don't add any more water. Continue to knead until you can form a dough
Cover and let the dough rest for 2 hours. When you press the dough it will bounce back very slowly. If it bounces back immediately, rest it a bit longer
Roll the dough out :
Divide the dough into two. Keep one covered and work with the other one. Flatten the dough and roll it out into a rectangle. It may not be a perfect rectangle and it's okay. You can trim off excess to make it a neat rectangle. Dust with a bit of flour if it gets sticky. Don't use too much flour, just enough to get through stickiness if needed. Roll it as thin as possible, almost paper-thin.
If you have a pasta roller, you can use it to roll the dough out as thin as possible
Shape into twisted ribbons:
Use a knife to cut into rectangles about 1 x 3 inches. Stack one rectangle on top of the other. Fold into half and then use a knife to make a small slit. Unfold it back and you have a hole in the middle now
Take one corner and pass it through the hole and pull it through. You have just made the twisted ribbon
Fry the ribbons:
Preheat about 2 inches of oil. When you put a skewer in the oil and there are bubbles around it, the oil is ready. Lower the heat to medium and fry the ribbons in batches until nicely golden brown. Put on an absorbent paper towel to catch excess oil
Let them cool down completely and then store in an air-tight container and they should stay crispy for weeks