Turn Sweet Potatoes Into Candy With An Ingenious Chinese Method

Odds are you have a few go-to sweet potato recipes in your back pocket. As tasty as marshmallow-topped casseroles and salty fries are, we implore you to do something different with the starchy root vegetable next time you have it on hand. For instance, turn your sweet potatoes into basi digua, a Northeastern Chinese specialty that's sweet in more ways than one.

The dish, usually served after a meal, has been around since China's Qing Dynasty, which spanned from 1644 to 1911. The recipe calls for frying slices of sweet potato (taro, apples, or strawberries are also sometimes used), then covering them in a generous layer of melted sugar. Its name means "pull-silk" sweet potatoes, a nod to the strings of melted sugar that accumulate as pieces of potato are snatched from the plate. Basi digua is sort of like a veggie-based spin on croquembouche, a French dessert of stacked cream puffs drizzled in spun sugar.  

The scorching hot spuds are typically served with a bowl of ice water, where they are dunked, cooling the caramelized sugar in a flash. The sugar rapidly hardens, while the pulling motion of diners sharing the dish causes the sugar to solidify midair, crowning the sweet potatoes with a photogenic web of spikes and strands. As long as the potatoes are only quickly dipped in the water, they'll be cool enough to chew, and the sugar will be slightly crunchy, rather than inedibly hard. 

For centuries, potatoes have been a plentiful part of the daily diet in Northeast China. The origins of basi digua are largely tied to the Dongbei region and date back to the Qing dynasty era. Legend has it that one of the emperor's chefs made the candied sweet potatoes in an attempt to turn lowly tubers into a winter comfort food. It impressed the emperor and became a go-to dish in the north, reaching Beijing and beyond.

Basi digua is served as a dessert or an accompaniment to a meal. Its basic ingredients and preparation mean it can be prepared in about 30 minutes. The dish is beloved for its diverse textures— the potatoes are crisp on the outside with a fluffy interior, and the sugar's nuanced sweetness is crunchy yet forgiving, melting away on the tongue alongside the spuds. It is popular for both Lunar New Year celebrations and family gatherings.

Its flavor and simplicity are to credit for much of its fame, but don't underestimate the power of basi digua's appearance. Basi digua wins folks over with its visual beauty and experiential preparation alike. First-timers may be surprised by how stretchy the sugar actually is, adding to the dish's intrigue. "When you pull ... this is like a mozzarella cheese pizza that's a dessert," YouTuber Strictly Dumpling explains over a plate of homemade basi digua, eventually stretching a sugar-coated piece of sweet potato far above his head.