Sweet Potato Porridge

Ingredients

1 sweet potato

80g rice

2 teaspoons of sugar

Instructions

1. Pick a plump sweet potato, peel it and dice it into small chunks.

2. Immerse the rice for half an hour and put it into a stew pot with the sweet potato chunks. Pour in about three times the amount of water as the ingredients and turn on medium heat.

3. After the water has started to boil, lower the heat and keep boiling for 20 minutes.

4. Add the sugar in the final stage and stir evenly before serving (pictured).

Candied Sweet Potato

Ingredients

250g sweet potatoes

100g rock candy (冰糖 bīng táng)

500g cooking oil (食用油 shí yòng yóu)

Instructions

1. Peel the sweet potatoes and dice into cubes that are 3cm wide. Wash the cubes in clean water to get rid of the starch on the surface; otherwise they will turn black when you fry them.

2. Heat the cooking oil to about 60 C, and fry the sweet potato chunks until their surface turns a light golden brown.

3. Here is the delicate part with the sugar that you have to pay special attention to, or even do a few practice rounds beforehand. Pour out the cooking oil but keep the remains without cleaning out the pan. Add in the rock candy with a few tablespoons of water, and stir constantly on low heat until it melts. When the liquid sugar turns golden and is bursting with small bubbles, keep the heat low (or the sugar will turn bitter) and put in the fried sweet potato chunks.

4. Stir fast until even, and serve hot.

(China Daily 12/14/2012 page27)