Food - Drink
Basi Digua: The Sweet Potatoes So Hot They're Served With Ice Water
By TALIN VARTANIAN
How to Make It
Basi digua is a candied sweet potato dish from Northeast China. First, chop your sweet potato and then fry them in hot oil for up to five minutes. After they’ve cooled, coat them with a sugar syrup made by heating sugar, oil, and a bit of salt; when served, the syrup stretches like cheese when you grab a slice of pizza.
Pitfalls
Basi digua is all about that sugar pull — “basi” comes from “ba” meaning “pull” and “si” meaning “strands” — so getting the syrup right is most important. A runny syrup won’t transform into glistening sugar strands while an overcooked syrup gets too sticky, but even perfect syrup won't last long, so serve immediately.
How to Eat It
To eat basi digua, simply use chopsticks to grab a piece of candied sweet potato and enjoy the sugary strands that form as you pull it apart. However, know that when served fresh, basi digua is extremely hot, so you must dunk it into a bowl of ice water before eating, which helps it cool while giving it an extra crunch.