Taken from RI website HEREFood stalls famous for quality
I was only a few steps into the Ningxia Night Market when the sweet potato balls caught my eye. The golden and purple spheres glistened as the cook pulled a tray from the hot oil and hoisted them into a stainless-steel bowl the size of a kid’s bathtub.
The problem was I couldn’t figure out how to extract myself from the human river that bore me along to order a bagful of what my gut told me I would likely never forget. Coasting along with the crowd, I thought I might be able to lift both feet off the ground and keep moving. It wasn’t the same feeling I’d experienced once in a Mexico City metro stop — that was a rebellious crowd. This was more like being borne along by a crowd spirited by the anticipation of delicious happiness.
Now, sweet potatoes are probably not an ingredient that’s top of mind when you think of Asian cuisine. But from their birthplace in the Americas, the tubers traveled on huge galleons as early as the mid sixteenth century, moving across the Pacific to Manila, then slowly wandering from one Asian culture to another, finding warm — if not celebrated — welcomes nearly everywhere. Including Taiwan, where they now attract long lines when cooked, mashed, mixed with tuberous starches, and transformed into those shiny little balls.
Once I extricated myself from the enthusiastic crowd, I discovered what I can only describe as pure delight. Those ping-pong sized spheres, known as known as di gua qiu, are unexpectedly hollow and lightly sweet, with a hint of the sweet potato’s characteristic earthiness. I laughed a little as I popped another and then another into my mouth.
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