Taro Paste (Yu Ni)

Yu ni is made from Fujian's prized betel-nut taro, steamed and mashed to a fine paste, then folded with sugar and lard or oil and sometimes topped with red dates or melon seeds—a smooth, sweet signature dessert of Min cuisine.

Taro paste is a traditional sweet of Fuzhou and the wider Min region, customarily served as the sweet finale of a banquet, and is tied in local lore to anecdotes of late-Qing Fuzhou officials entertaining guests.

It is brought out hot and shared by the spoonful. Because a film of oil seals the surface so no steam rises, the cool-looking paste is scalding within—Fuzhou diners warn newcomers to taste it carefully.

Its trick is being 'cool outside, hot inside': the oil layer traps the heat, so a paste that looks tepid is in fact piping hot, and its silky sweetness is a hallmark of Fuzhou desserts.