Stuffed Sweet Potato Dumplings 薯包籺
Stuffed Sweet Potato Dumplings is featured among the local specialties of Guangdong.
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Stuffed Sweet Potato Dumplings (薯包籺) are a street snack from Gaozhou (高州) in Maoming (茂名), Guangdong: dumplings of sweet potato starch dough filled with diced pork and peanuts and steamed. They are also called shuba he (薯粑籺) or yibao he (姨包籺).
Where it comes from
Maoming Daily (茂名日报) calls the dumpling a well-known traditional snack of Gaozhou and one of the favourite street foods of Gaozhou people, made since the Qing dynasty for more than a hundred years. Text from the Guangdong and Maoming local chronicles offices (地方志办公室) presents it as part of Gaoliang cuisine (高凉菜), the regional cooking of Maoming.
How it is made
Boiling water is stirred into sweet potato starch and the mixture is kneaded into a dough, the same way as for shoutao he (寿桃籺, "longevity peach" he). The dough is shaped into elongated dumplings, which Maoming Daily compares in shape to guzong he (古粽籺). The filling is usually diced pork and peanuts, sometimes with dried shrimp. The dumplings are cooked in a zhengya bao (蒸压煲), a steaming pot used only for this snack.
How it is eaten
Maoming Daily describes the two ways Gaozhou stalls serve them. The classic way is hot, with the stallholder's own sweet vinegar or spicy vinegar. The everyday way is hot with peanut oil and soy sauce, and chilli if wanted, followed by a bowl of the sweet or spicy vinegar to drink. At home the hot dumplings are served in a bowl with pork-bone stock made in advance.
The sweet potato starch gives a crisp, smooth, slippery bite, and soaked in the hot broth the dumplings taste rich without being greasy.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.