Sachima
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Sachima
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Sachima (Simplified Chinese: 萨其马; Traditional Chinese: 薩其馬; Pinyin: Sà qí mǎ; also Shaqima / 沙琪玛, Saqima; Hong Kong ma zai / 马仔) is a soft, sweet Chinese pastry of thin fried dough strands mixed with sugar syrup (often with honey or maltose), pressed, and cut into rectangles or squares. The name is a transcription of Manchu sacima; Qing dictionaries glossed related forms as a sugar-bound confection. Soft folk stories that invent the name from "killing a horse" or credit a single emperor as sole inventor are folklore. It is a named pastry category, not sticky New Year Nian Gao, not plain fried dough sticks (Youtiao), and not peanut candy alone.[1]
Characteristics
Golden to pale yellow blocks; strands visible inside; soft, sticky-sweet, melt-in-mouth crumb; toppings may include sesame, raisins, candied fruit, or coconut in modern packs.
Ingredients (overview)
Wheat flour dough (often egg-enriched), oil for frying, sugar syrup or maltose/honey binder; optional sesame, dried fruit, coconut. Overview only—not a recipe card.
History and culture
Associated with Manchu pastry culture and Qing-era Beijing snack writing (including notes in seasonal Beijing miscellanies); later became a nationwide packaged bakery sweet and a common Hong Kong/Cantonese tea snack under the name ma zai. Soft exclusive inventorship claims are folk. English usually says "sachima" or "shaqima." See Beijing Food and Mahua.
Serving and variations
Tea snack, travel sweet, gift tin, or packaged everyday treat. See Beijing Food, Mahua, and Tanghulu.