Thai food for newbies: Patongo or Chinese Doughnut

Patongo might not be a familiar term for some of you but it sure does for Thais. Patongo or Chinese Doughnut is a very popular breakfast menu in Thailand. It is crispy and soft and it can pair up with many things which made this bakery so special and delicious!

A cousin of Churros as in taste (a Spanish famous bakery), Patongo originally comes from a Chinese recipe. Chinese people call it “Youtiao”. However, Thais enjoy this fried dough in different ways.

Patongo makes a great breakfast. In this case, we are talking about the taste and the task to fill the stomach, not the nutrition wise.

Patongo with condensed milk

 What is Patongo?

Deep fried in hot oil

Patongo is made from wheat flour, deep fried in hot oil. When it is ready, Patongo will turn into beautiful brown sticks which are crispy on the crust and soft on the inside.

How to eat it?

Dipping with condensed milk or hot coffee – both are great choices

There are many ways to enjoy this scrumptious doughnut – from the classic ways of dipping it with condensed milk, coffee or cacao to something more serious like dunk it into rice porridge, any options will serve just fine.

If you are a little more creative, you can try it with chocolate, whipping cream, coconut custard, soy milk or even ginger tea.

Why should you try it?

Patongo with rice porridge

If you are a big fan of pastry and doughnut, you definitely shouldn’t miss this. Patongo is really friendly for all ages as it can perfectly go along with any cup or dipping you like. You can also eat it to go with a cup of coffee. See? it is so easy.

Where can I find one?

Are you a morning person? if so, you are lucky because you can find it in almost every street where there are office buildings, morning markets or even on a bus stop (the crowded one!).

However, if you don’t like to get up early, you are still lucky as McDonald now has patongo on its snacks menu (you can even get it delivered to your home). So there you go, head to McDonald and try one. It might not look exactly like the original one on the street vendor but it tastes quite alright and less oily.

Warning!

Patongo dancing in hot oil

In Thailand, we normally use soy and palm oil for cooking which is not the best choice to go for a deep-fried food. Patongo is deep fried in a lot of oil, which you will never know what kind of oil they use and how many times they reuse them, so be informed on that and take it slow!