Lotus root

This week´s wet market shopping got me Lotus root. I love the crunchiness of Lotus root, I love the earthiness of Lotus root .. It will be just enough to say I love and adore Lotus root.

So I bought two lotus roots and made one into a salad with Enoki mushrooms and pepper. The other one I stuffed with Basmati rice and boiled for an hour in a sweet syrupy concoction of staranise, Cassia bark and sugar.

And here is the winner, My fresh greenie salad.

It is very easy to make this salad. Peel and wash the Lotus root . Use a chopstick to clean inside the roots. Cut it along the length, in half and then chop the halves into thin slices. Place the slices in a bowl with water and rice vinegar. This will keep the root white and also removes the bitterness, if any.
Blanch the slices along with pepper , scallion and Garlic flower stalks.
Drain and keep in a salad bowl. Add salt and pepper, give it a shake and you have a crunchy, earthly salad to die for.

I used the other root to make a sweet dish. This is one of the Shanghai street food, where the lotus root is stuffed with sticky rice and boiled in a honey spicey syrup.
I have made my version of the stuffed lotus root.

This is fun to make. Peel the root and use a chopstick to clean the inside.
Cut a two inch slice from one end and keep it aside to use as a cap.
Wash and drain rice and stuff the root with the rice. Use the chopstick to push and compact the rice.
Using toothpicks, attach the cap to the root.
Meanwhile boil a large saucepan with water. Add Star Anise, Cassia bark or Cinnamon peel, sugar, honey and whatever nice things you fancy to the water. Place the stuffed root in the boiling water and boil for 1 hour. Remove with a slotted spoon and let it rest.
Remove the spices from the water and reduce it to form a syrup.
Slice the roots and pour the syrup over the slices.
It is so magical to look at the slices let alone eat it.