Sweet Potato Balls - Southeast Asian Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between sweet potato and Asian sweet potato? ›

Because they're a little drier and starchier than other varieties, Japanese sweet potatoes have a distinct creaminess and a fluffier, lighter texture, a little more like a regular baking potato than a standard orange sweet potato. They also have a particularly sweet yet, subtle flavor compared to many other varieties.

This superfood is high in complex carbs, has a surprisingly low glycemic load, and packs an antioxidant punch with anthocyanin (the compound that makes blueberries blue). Okinawans typically serve sweet potatoes steamed, which perfectly renders their creamy texture and sweet flavor.

Ube Has A Thicker And More Moist Texture

But anyone who's familiar with both will know that despite the striking similarities, ube and purple sweet potato aren't perfectly interchangeable. For one, ube has a notably subtler sweetness with stronger hints of vanilla and taro-like nuttiness.

While boiling makes sweet potatoes tender, it doesn't help much with their flavor. Most dishes that call for boiled sweet potatoes would be improved if you used roasted or baked sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potatoes and Health

Sweet potatoes with orange flesh are richest in beta-carotene. Sweet potatoes with purple flesh are richer in anthocyanins. Beta-carotene and anthocyanins are naturally occurring plant “phyto” chemicals that give vegetables their bright colors.

Best of all they contain all the essential amino acids that our bodies need. Are Japanese sweet potatoes healthier than regular sweet potatoes? All varieties of sweet potatoes are good for you but these purple-skin tubers do have higher concentrations of specific vitamins and nutrients.

While both types contain around 150 calories, they contain very different vitamins. American sweet potatoes are full of beta-carotene and high amounts of iron. In contrast, Korean sweet potatoes contain antioxidants and more vitamin C.

Okinawan Sweet Potato vs. Japanese Sweet Potato

Unlike the light skin and purple flesh of the Okinawan sweet potato, Japanese sweet potatoes (locally known as satsuma imo) have reddish-purple skin and light-colored flesh, which can either be yellow or white. Both varieties also differ in texture.

Okinawan cuisine consists of smaller meal portions of green and yellow vegetables, soy and other legumes, relatively small amounts of rice compared to mainland Japan, as well as occasional fish and pork. The center of the Okinawan cuisine is the sweet potato.

Dioscorea alata is a species of yam commonly referred to as purple yam, ube, violet yam, or water yam. This tuberous root vegetable originates from Southeast Asia and is often confused with taro root.

Why is ube so expensive? ›

Due to dwindling local production and the need to meet export demands, ube flavoring and color has become common in the Asian country. Scarcity in supply of the crop has also resulted in high prices.

Quality and Characteristics: Purple sweet potatoes may be viewed as a high-end, specialty raw material due to their unique color, taste, and nutritional value, which may also increase their price.

The classic mashed sweet potato is mixed with corn starch and glutinous rice flour to make a pliable dough that gets rolled into balls. After a quick dip in a hot jacuzzi of boiling water, they become delightfully chewy and ready to be coated in the sauce of your dreams.

Sweet potatoes should be pretreated before being dehydrated, otherwise, they will retain a raw “uncooked” taste when rehydrated. The most common way to pretreat vegetables is to blanch them for a few minutes, using either steam or boiling water.

You simply cut your sweet potato in half, perch it upon the mouth of a jar or glass (suspended by toothpicks works well) submerging the bottom half in water. Voila! Place in a sunny location and keep the water level high enough so that the bottom half remains wet and then watch your potato sprout.

tapioca is a starch that extracted from the tuberous roots of cassava plant also known as manico. sweet potato is cultivated for its sweet tasting tuberous root. tapioca is basically a tube root vegetable belonging to family of potato. arrow root is made from tapioca.