街市THE WET MARKET
Sweet potato
番薯
The cheapest and quickest tong sui: sweet potato in big chunks, a few slices of mature ginger, a slab of sugar, twenty-five minutes. Hong Kong cooks pick 黃心 (firm, chestnutty) or 紫心 (purple flesh that colours the whole pot). Australian shelves sell sweet potato by skin colour and say nothing about the flesh: gold is orange-fleshed and everywhere; the red-skinned one is white inside and the nearest to the Hong Kong bite; the one that is purple inside has a pale skin and lives at Asian grocers and markets. Cut one open before you commit.
Preparation
Peel and cut into large chunks, holding them in water; the purple kinds bleed colour from the skin.
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
Australian name · sweet potato (gold / red / purple)
Where · Coles and Woolworths (gold, red); Asian grocers and markets (purple-fleshed, white)
What to ask for · The tag gives skin colour only: red is white inside and nearest 黃心; the purple-fleshed one has a pale skin. Cut one open
If it is not there · Gold works; cut it larger and cook it less
In season · Year round; sweetest in the cool months
Where · Coles and Woolworths (gold, red); Asian grocers and markets (purple-fleshed, white)
What to ask for · The tag gives skin colour only: red is white inside and nearest 黃心; the purple-fleshed one has a pale skin. Cut one open
If it is not there · Gold works; cut it larger and cook it less
In season · Year round; sweetest in the cool months
