SNACKS - Sweet Potato Balls

By Aemelia

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds sweet potatoes
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups potato starch
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (Any gluten-free flour can also be used.)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Room temperature water

Details

Servings 120
Adapted from rasamalaysia.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Bake the sweet potatoes until cooked through. Peel off the skins, mash the potatoes, and leave the mashed potatoes to cool off completely and dry out a little. (You could boil or steam them, but I've found that baking is the best cooking method for this recipe. This is somewhat similar to how you prepare potatoes with which you make gnocchi. Dry, flaky riced potatoes require smaller amount of flour to form a smooth dough and result in lighter gnocchi.) You don't want to skip the cooling and the drying as it would result in gummy, heavy, and sticky end results as opposed to crispy, light, and airy. 2. Once the mashed sweet potatoes have cooled, measure out exactly two cups and put it in a mixing bowl. Add in the flours, baking soda, salt, and sugar; mix lightly with a wooden spoon. Add water to the mixture a little at a time. You need just enough water to form a ball of dough. Mix as lightly as you can; do not knead. 3. Make 3/4-inch balls. You should end up with about 120. 4. Prepare the frying pan and oil. The oil shouldn't be too hot. (If the dough balls become browned right away once they hit the oil, turn down the heat a couple of notches. You want to allow these balls at least 20-30 seconds in the oil for them to puff up properly and become light and crispy without being overly browned.) 5. Once the dough balls are in the oil, be sure to move them around a little to allow the surface to be evenly browned. After 35-45 seconds, the dough balls should be ready to be fished out onto a rack or a paper towel-line plate. 6. Serve immediately. A sprinkling of powdered sugar is considered unorthodox and completely optional. If you have a cranky Thai purist in your immediate vicinity, powdered sugar may not be the brightest idea.