I have only done this recipe once in my lifetime. It is one of the hardest recipes in my collection, but it's a good appetizer to impress the guests with. There is a reason why this dish is expensive at a restaurant. Give yourself a few hours for the prep work on this recipe, plus another hour for frying.
Depending on how large you make the taro balls, this recipe yields about 18-24 taro balls.
Filling Ingredients
1/2 lb. ground pork
3 shitake mushrooms, finely chopped
1 tsp. rice wine
2 tbsp. vegetable oil (for frying)
1 lb. peeled taro (can be bought from an Asian supermarket)
Seasoning
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 slice ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
Cornstarch or potato starch
Enough vegetable oil for deep frying
Directions
1. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in frying pan. Add ginger and garlic and stir until lightly browned. Add ground pork and fry until lightly browned. Add remainder of filling ingredients and seasoning. Stir-fry until combined. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. Cut taro root into 1"-2" sized chunks. Put in pot and with enough water to cover the taro. Boil until taro is soft, about 40 minutes. Remove from heat and drain (you may reserve the liquid the taro boiled in to make a sweet dessert soup).
3. In a large bowl, mash the taro into a paste. Add salt and sugar. Mix well. Add cornstarch (or flour) until the mixture is smooth and workable. It will be sticky regardless of how much you try to fight with it.
4. Use a tablespoon to scoop out the taro paste onto your hand. I'd suggest putting a bit of flour in your hand first. Flatten the taro paste into a circular mass, enough to accommodate about 1 tsp. of the filling. It will look a lot like mashed potatoes.
5. Fold and pinch the edges together to form a ball of some sort. You want it in such a way so that none of the filling is showing. Set aside and work through the remainder of the taro paste and filling.
6. You may lightly coat each ball with some flour or cornstarch to keep it from sticking to the plate, your fingers, or other taro balls. It may or may not work depending on how much moisture is in your taro paste.
7. Heat frying oil on medium heat. Deep fry taro balls until golden brown. Remove taro balls from oil and let drain on paper towels. Serve hot.
8. Taro balls can be reheated by frying in fairly hot oil for about 30-45 seconds.
This recipe does come from a Chinese cuisine cookbook called China the Beautiful cookbook.
