STOP Buying Snacks! The $1 Dominican Yaniqueque That Feeds the Whole Table

A bag of chips goes in the cart every week, and it is gone in two days. On the sand at Boca Chica there is a woman with a pan of oil feeding a whole family out of flour and water for about what that one bag costs. That is a yaniqueque: a flat disc of fried dough, crisp and blistered, handed to you in a napkin with salt and a squeeze of lime. Four ingredients. I'm Rosa. I cooked for twenty-four years in a Dominican kitchen in Washington Heights, and this is the one I make when the house is full and the week has been long. The method, so you can keep it (makes 8 to 10 big ones): • 3 cups all-purpose flour · 1 tbsp baking powder · 1½ tsp salt • 2 tbsp oil or shortening worked in with your fingers • About 1 cup warm water, added a little at a time — soft and slightly sticky, softer than tortilla dough • Knead 2 to 3 minutes. Cover and REST 30 minutes minimum, an hour is better. Unrested dough fries up tough and bready. • Divide into 8 to 10 balls, rest 10 more minutes • Roll THIN — 8 or 9 inches across and almost see-through in the middle. Thick dough gives you bread. • Prick once or twice with a fork if you don't want the big balloon • Oil at 350–360°F, deep enough that the disc floats, pan no more than half full • About 1 minute a side, until deep golden and blistered • Onto a rack, SALT IT IMMEDIATELY — salt will not stick to a cooled one. Lime if you like it that way. • To freeze: stack the raw rolled discs with paper between them, freeze flat, fry from frozen, add ~20 seconds a side Careful with the oil: half-full pan, lay the dough in away from you, and keep flour off wet hands — water is what makes it spatter. Did your family eat these on the beach, or only at home? And does your house put sugar in the dough, or never? Tell me where your family is from in the DR. I read every comment. Next video: tostones — the two-fry method and the salt-water dip nobody mentions.