The Sweet Potato Balls from 大摳呆地瓜球 @ Ruifeng Night Market in Kaohsiung City [Taiwan]

Do you like sweet potato balls? Those crispy golf-shaped balls from Taiwan gained popularity in Singapore a few years ago and in spite of my love for sweet potatoes; the pricing was too steep for me to even want to try it!

I did manage to curb the temptation and waited till my visit to Taiwan earlier this year! While there were a few shops / stalls that offered the snacks; none commanded as long a queue as 大摳呆地瓜球 @ Ruifeng Night Market.

The more than 10-person queue cleared quite fast and we were almost at the start of the queue after only about 13 minutes. Now, the balls came in your normal yellow sweet potatoes form, and also the purple kind. Not knowing what would be good, I requested for a mix.  

At just NT$40 for 10 balls (less than half the price I would have paid for in Singapore), a true sweet potato lover, as I was, simply asked for plain basic with no toppings, which are free and included options like pepper salt, sweet plum powder, chocolate, condensed milk or caramel. 

Purple sweet potato balls had the nian gao texture in the insides and typical of purple sweet potatoes, the sweetness was tamed and lacked the flavor of original sweet potatoes that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Original sweet potato balls were hollow with a thin, crisp shell and although they were deep fried; they didn't burst with oil and that totally eliminated any sinful guilt I would get from digging into deep fried snacks! And the taste was so addictively delish, with the good old flavour of sweet potatoes that I almost went back for a second serving! 

 

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Location

Within Ruifeng Night Market,

Yucheng Road, Zuoying District,

Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Original Sweet Potato Balls - NT$40 for 10

Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)