Want to know my favorite street food/snack in Bangkok?

Not this...

Or this...

But what is this you see here? Could it be? For real? YOU TIAO!!! =) If you live in Hawaii or parts of LA, you've probably eaten your share of you tiao with a morning bowl of jook. Most you tiao I've had comes in the form of long sticks about a foot long and an inch or two in diameter. The stick is cut into bit size pieces so that they bob around quite nicely in the jook or bowl of hot noodle soup. It's a big hassle to make at home with all the frying, so the only time I have you tiao is at restaurant. BUT I'VE NEVER HAD IT ON THE STREET. AND I'VE NEVER HAD IT FRIED IN INDIVIDUAL PIECES. Which makes this vendor quite special to me. He operates in Bangkok's Chinatown and comes out in the afternoon, maybe 5pm or so, just as the night markets start to open up for dinner business.

As you can see here, you tiao is rather labor intensive, given the fact that he works on a stand near the busy streets of Bangkok. Cars and bikes whiz by constantly and the traffic never stops. It's dusty here, and dirty, so you might be inclined to wonder about the sanitary conditions of your food. In such cases you are better not thinking and just eating. Mix the dough, let it proof, shape, stretch, cut and then...

FRY! Oh yes, fry let it fry in the hot bubbling vat of golden oil!! It's exciting to watch this all take place, as long as you don't mind the sweltering summer heat and traffic noise, and dirty streets. But as you watch him fry each individual nugget, turning it from a limp piece of beige dough to a marvelous puffy, crispy creation, nothing...well almost nothing, in the world seems to matter.

And viola, here you go! A bucket of you tiao. If you eat one, it is very, very good. If you eat five, you start to feel sick. So maybe two or three at a time is good, yeah? But eat it while it's hot, or don't bother eating it at all. Bit into and tear apart that thin layer of crackly skin, so perfect, you'd almost mistake it for roasted pig skin (minus the porky flavor that is!), and then inside, is hot and doughy, but not the least bit underdone . It's just barely savory,, but not sweet, though I could imagine how good this could be with just a bit if sugar added in the dough - you tiao gone dessert? I'll let you know if I ever decide to make that at home! :)