Singer-actor Meiyang Chang rose to prominence after his stint on Indian Idol 5, which aired in 2005. He may not have won the popular music reality show, but he bagged many notable projects afterwards not just as a singer but also as an actor, like ‘Badmaash Company’, where he shared screen space with Shahid Kapoor and Anushka Sharma or ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshi’, which released in 2015. In 2019, he also featured in ‘Bharat’, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. Chang, as he is popularly known among his fans, used to be a dentist when he decided to audition for Indian Idol, in the show he revealed that his ancestors were from China. On Chinese New Year, the actor paid tribute to his Chinese roots in the most delicious way possible. The 39-year-old tried his hands at making traditional Chinese New Year cookies from none other than his own maternal grandmother.
In his caption, he wrote that the cookies are often confused with fortune cookies because of their curly, thin and crunchy exterior, but the fortune cookies are native to Japan and not China. This ribbon-shaped cookie is a traditional Chinese New Year recipe. There is also a reason why they are twisted in the peculiar shape, “typical ribbon-like shape of the ‘faan-chow-tse signifies the turning of the calendar & stepping into the new year. I’m glad to announce that I learned how to make one at Naani’s this time (sic)”, Chang wrote in his caption. Further in the caption he also wished his fans a Happy #ChineseNewYear. Watch the Instagram video here.
The thin, and crunchy ribbon cookies don’t just look like fortune cookies but also like Khapse, a North-East Indian cookie, that is again made on special occasions like New Year or weddings. In his caption, Chang mentioned that the Chinese ribbon-cookies are “made out of maida, ghee, salt, sugar and sesame. (sic)”. In the video, one can see a fine dough made with all the above-mentioned ingredients. The dough is rolled out extremely thin, and long strips are cut out from the dough. The strips are divided into pairs and intertwined with each other before they are fried in hot oil.
Whether or not you are celebrating the Chinese New Year, the recipe is too simple and delicious to pass, don’t you think? We are definitely trying our hands at making this cookie, what about you?
