This Savory Soy Milk Soup with Fried Dough, or Dou Jiang You Tiao, is a popular breakfast/brunch item in China. It’s the simplest thing you’ll ever make, after a quick trip to the Chinese grocery store. It’s basically a soy milk soup, curdled slightly with the vinegar, and flavored with scallions, sesame oil, pickled radishes and the crispy fried dough. Okay, so this dish isn’t out there winning any mainstream awards. But we used to go to this Shanghainese restaurant for Sunday brunch, and almost everyone in the restaurant made sure to order a bowl of dou jiang along with their scallion pancakes and soup dumplings.
If you can’t find unsweetened soy milk, you can buy a soy milk maker: try out this Soyajoy maker or this Joyoung maker. We have a Joyoung maker at home, which works really well, but the Soyajoy one seems really popular on Amazon. Basically, you can find dried soy beans at your local Asian mart. Soak them overnight and put them in the Soymilk maker the next morning. You’ll be rewarded with fresh, hot soy milk in minutes. Now that we’re in China, we can buy it everywhere, but in the U.S., that was how we made it.
See our Ingredients Glossary for more information on the Chinese black vinegar, which is used in several of our other recipes, like this Seared Asian Salmon w/ Lemon Cilantro Edamame Puree or as a dipping sauce for these dumplings. You can get the fried crullers in the refrigerated section near the tofu and noodles. Just toast them quickly in the oven at 325 degrees until crispy, and add them to this soup. Or, you can make our Homemade Youtiao recipe.
Another interesting ingredient is the pickled mustard root, which you can find in the Chinese grocery store.
Recipe Instructions
In a pot, heat up the soy milk.
In a serving bowl, add a couple teaspoons Chinese black vinegar, salt and white pepper to taste, a drizzle of sesame oil, a couple teaspoons pickled mustard stem, and the chili oil and dried shrimp, if using (you can adjust the quantities of all these ingredients according to your own taste).
Pour in the hot soy milk and let stand for a minute, without stirring. Garnish with chopped scallion and Chinese fried dough (you tiao). Serve!
Savory Soy Milk Soup w/ Fried Dough (Dou Jiang)
Ingredients
- Unsweetened soy milk
- Chinese black vinegar
- Salt
- White pepper
- Sesame oil
- pickled mustard stems (zha cai)
- scallions (chopped)
- chinese fried crullers (toasted and cut into slices)
Instructions
- In a pot, heat up the soy milk. In a serving bowl, add a couple teaspoons vinegar, salt and white pepper to taste, a drizzle of sesame oil, and a couple teaspoons picked radish (you can adjust the quantities of all these ingredients according to your own taste). Pour in the hot soy milk and let stand for a minute, without stirring. Garnish with chopped scallion and fried dough. Serve!
Could you maybe post the recipe for zha cai, I’ve googled it but I can’t find one anywhere.
We always buy zha cai in vacuum pouches, so never thought to make it ourselves.
very, very delicious! I bought a soy milk maker (Joyoung, and I love it) because I enjoy making tofu; I thought I didn’t like soy milk. happily, I was wrong — it turns out I just don’t love packaged soy milk, but the fresh kind is wonderful! I’ll still be very happy to have my appliance for when I make tofu, but also for breakfasts like this. it’s so good with bits of youtiao in it.
Love this “dao gurn and yao teal”. We used to live in the Bay Area and went to this restaurant called Yangtze River. It brings back memories and I’ll make it this weekend. I recall the soy milk was just slightly sweeten and thick and made without vinegar nor oil. What do you recommend to make it thicker?
Thank you for this exciting and authentic recipe – I knew I could count on you! I have a Soyabella soymilk maker (with concealed heating element and built-in filter) and soybeans ready to go! I also have all the other ingredients except I’ll not use shrimp since I’m vegan, but your recipe is the one I’ve been waiting to try! Judy, if you’re reading, you’re amazing! <3
Sidenote: I'll be roasting the leftover soybean pulp to make rice seasoning.
Thank you, you are too kind :-)
How much soy milk do you start with?
Hi Susan, this is to taste. Make it how you like it.
I’ve never had this before, so have no point of reference. Approximately how much milk is appropriate to use with the amounts of the other ingredients you noted? 1 cup? 2 cups? 3 cups? Thsnks.
Hi Cynthia, you’re so right. We need to be more specific. We usually each mix our own, since we all like it differently, and it’s very personal. In the meantime, let me give you an approx. guide: 1.5 cup of soy milk, 1 teaspoon vinegar to make it curdle, and the rest of ingredients you can adjust to your own taste :-)
This is the best blog ever!
Thank you for your high praise :-)
Thanks! Back in the 90’s early 2000’s there was an excellent Chinese Restaurant in Bellevue, Washington called Shi Lin. Very authentic, attracted a large and loyal Chinese clientele. That was the first place I ever tried “Salted Bean Milk”. I ordered it every time thereafter. Very pleased to be able to make this at home!
Great! Hope you like it :-)