Wander an Asian street market long enough and your eyes will cross, your olfactory glands will blow out and your mouth will salivate worse than when Mr. Pavlove goes on a bell ringing frenzy. The plan is always to eat early and eat often. On this drop into Malaysia I hit the Chow Kit Market, the largest wet market in Kuala Lumpur. Bazaar Baru Chow Kit, as it is formally named, has everything for durian fruit to goat heads to these sweet potato balls(pictured above). Hawkers sell ready to eat snacks at every turn. Stuck in between the wet market stalls, these vendors cook up and sell everything you can imagine from a myriad of cuisines. Chinese, Indian, Malay…it’s all properly represented. This dish gets highlighted today because it was my gateway bite into about a dozen snacks I had as I wandered through the market. Fresh sweet potato is “meatballed” and dropped in fresh frying oil. The balls are than drained for less than a minute, packed into this take away wrapper and distributed. For less than a dollar I made off with 5 balls. My first bite was a heavenly mix of texture and taste. Crunching through the salty and crisped bark allowed my taste buds access to the creamy, sweet potato inside. As the two textures and flavors mingled in my mouth I grew wide eyed with each chew. Commingling like old high school rivals meeting at their reunion with more mature behavior, I swallowed the bite and hurried back to my green bag of goodness for a second hit. Within a few minutes they were all gone. Clearly an addictive treat that would stick with me all day long. Good thing there is a Night Market version of Chow Kit. A second hit of these was definitely in order.
Go there:
Chow Kit Street Market
484 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
