We're Nate Tate and Mary Kate Tate, a brother and sister cookbook author team obsessed with all things China. We create authentic and accessible Chinese recipes for home cooks. See more...

« Grilled Xinjiang Lamb Kebabs Recipe with Yogurt | Main | Fried Sichuan (Szechuan) Green Beans Recipe »
Monday
Jan162012

Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe

Who doesn't love mashed potatoes? Imagine biting into a deliciously smooth and savory bite of mashed potatoes. Now imagine that wonderfully creamy bite with a slight crunch! In China's southern Yunnan province, Nate and I encountered these tasty tater tot-like fried mashed potato balls (傣味香辣土豆球, dai wei xiang la tu dou qiu). The insides are mashed potato-soft and the outside is just the right amount of crunch. It's a dish made by the Dai minority who largely populate the picturesque Xishuangbanna territory of Yunnan that borders Myanmar (Burma) in the South of China. The Dai peoples have a lot of similarities to the Thai and their fantastic Southeast Asian cuisine is largely unknown and under-appreciated in the world. Some of their other fantastic dishes can be found in our book, including Dai Pineapple Rice, and Grilled Banana Leaf Fish. These are dishes that are really rewarding to make because they are ones you can't find elsewhere and leave your guests asking for the recipe every time.

TOne of the many brands of fish sauce available at Asian grocery storeshe trick to getting these tater balls to come out perfectly is to first heat the potato dough in a pan until it clumps and then let the dough chill in the refrigerator until it's cold. If you skip this step, you run the risk of the balls falling apart while you're frying them.

Now that you have the perfect mashed potato ball, it's time to make the delicious dipping sauce. The main ingredient is Asian fish sauce (you can buy fish sauce at any Asian market and most specialty grocery stores). Fish sauce is a thin amber-colored liquid made by fermenting fish with salt and it smells like you would think fermented fish smells--bad. However, when fish sauce is combined with other ingredients, the smell goes away and it enhances the flavors of the other ingredients much like MSG does. When I'm cooking, I like to add a dash of it to things like spaghetti bolognaise sauce or soups to give them an added richness and an umami flavor.

The simple, yet exotic jungle flavors in this dish with just the right amount of spice are something that I crave on a hot summer day . . . or a cold day that I wish was a hot summer day!

Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe

MAKES ABOUT 40 BALLS

Dipping Sauce
6 fresh small red chiles, seeded and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup sugar
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce

Potato Balls
1 1/2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Oil, for deep-frying

1. To make the dipping sauce, combine the chiles, garlic, sugar, lime juice, water, and Asian fish sauce in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

2. Place the potatoes in a saucepan and add enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and fork-tender. Drain the potatoes well and place them in a large mixing bowl. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes until smooth. Slowly stir in the butter, water, flour, egg, and salt and mix until smooth.

3. Heat up the potato mixture in a large saucepan or wok over medium heat. Stir constantly for about 3 minutes or until the dough begins to clump, and then remove from the heat and let cool in the refridgerator until cold. Grease your hands with a little oil and form a tablespoon of the potato dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining potato dough.

4. Heat 2 inches of oil in a wok over medium heat until a small piece of potato dough turns golden brown in 30 seconds. Fry about 10 of the balls for about 2 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crispy. Make sure to turn the balls over while cooking so that they brown on all sides. Use a wire strainer to transfer the balls to paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining balls. Serve the piping-hot potato balls with a side of the dipping sauce.

References (51)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.
  • Response
    Response: Joseph Sabeh
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: Joe Sabeh
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: Douglas Pitassi
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: doug pitassi
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: stop hair loss
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: www.prweb.com
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: sexercise workout
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: sexercise
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: Escort
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: gastric band
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Food aid can benefit people suffering from a shortage of food. It can be used to improve peoples' lives in the short term, so that a society can increase its standard of living to the point that food aid is no longer required
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Response: seo services
    Some recipes will note how long the dish will keep and its suitability for freezing. Nutritional information, such as calories per serving and grams of protein, fat, and carbohydrates per serving, may also be given.
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    [...]Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon[...]
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce Recipe - Home - Feeding the Dragon
  • Response
    Reverse lookup mobile number 1 760 San Diego-CA
  • Response
    I found a great...
  • Response
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Response
    Response: best fish finder
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Response
    Response: fish finder
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Response
    Response: gps fish finder
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Response
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Response
    Response: best fish finder
    Potato Balls with Spicy Chinese Dipping Sauce
  • Response
    Response: cotomovies apk
    cotomovies apk
  • Response
  • Response
  • Response
    Experience the taste of India with India Shopping! Shop Kaju Katli, Indori Namkeen, Papad, Juices, Ratlami Sev and more than 3000 items. Shop Indian local Products from Indore, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, and Ujjain. Free shipping on orders over $50.
  • Response
    Response: Mahadev Book

Reader Comments (4)

Thanks for sharing. My husband will love this dish. Any preference on what oil to use for frying?

January 17, 2012 | Unregistered Commenterkitchenlady78

Hi, Kitchenlady78. For deep-frying you want to use an oil with a high smoking point. So this is not a time to use olive oil. Peanut oil or canola oil works well. Enjoy :)

January 17, 2012 | Registered CommenterNate

WARNING: the pineapple rice you mentioned that is in your book can be addicting! I find myself making it to serve as a side with everything !

January 19, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterCucina mama

awful so wanted to try.??????

July 18, 2014 | Unregistered Commenterpulau pramuka

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>