Lotus Root

[Miss J]

Well...can you?

I've been thinking that it could make some lovely, lacy crisps (if I had a mandolin, and if I had some fresh lotus root), but I've no idea whether it would be a suitable thing to fry. Has anyone tried it?

[Liza]

I'm pretty sure I've seen it done just that way, as a crispy garnish, in a Charlie Trotter book. Even without his blessing, I think you're safe to try it.

[Miss J]

I've just had the most terrible image of myself sending Charlie Trotter a series of awful, creeping, stalker-ish letters desperately seeking his permission to deep fry some lotus root.  

[ngatti]

Yes you can.  Peel it and slice thin.  It deep fries fine.

Nick

[Liza]

Far better, more efficient, and more interesting: ask Bourdain now!

[Suvir Saran]

Miss J,

In India we use these a lot in the north.  I make lotus root chips every time I am able to find these.  I slice them very fine and then let them dry on a paper towel for an hour, not necessary, for some reason I grew up seeing Panditji (our home chef) do it, and then deep fry as you would French fries.  

I then sprinkle some chaat masala and salt.  They are great.  We call them Kachri.

They taste great by themselves or even with biryaani.

Three years ago on our annual Holiday Open House, I served in huge Indian urlis (metal bowls) a mélange of root vegetables.  I fried over 3 nights, more than 30 pounds of assorted roots and the guests seemed to have enjoyed these chips by themselves.  

Unlike Okra that can be messy to fry, lotus roots are quite easy and lend themselves well to this technique.

I am sure Mr. Bourdain will have a great restaurant tip that would be perfect for you to know..  I spotted even cilantro growing, that most difficult

PS:  Chaat Masala can be found in most all Indian stores or you can order at at Namaste.com

[Miss J]

Wow - Suvir, that sounds pretty amazing. I've obviously not given the lotus root enough consideration!

[Rachel Perlow]

We've had them made by our Chinese friend's mother. She stuffed a pork mixture between two slices, battered, then fried them. I'll email her this thread to see if we can get a recipe.

[Suvir Saran]

One can do a lot with Lotus Roots Miss J.

Rachel, I cannot wait to see that recipe.  It sound amazing.  In fact I have eaten something similar at a chefs tasting menu in Singapore.  They were great.

[mamster]

I've had lotus root crisps at the Bread Bar at Tabla, among other places.  Fry with impunity--they're quite delicious.

[Jason Perlow]

We've had them made by our Chinese friend's mother. She stuffed a pork mixture between two slices, battered, then fried them. I'll email her this thread to see if we can get a recipe.

They were good, but had too much five spice powder in them. I hate that flavor when its too strong.

[stefanyb]

I'm fairly certain that lotus root is included in Terra Chips, the vegetable chips one can buy in bags like potato chips, only lots more expensive.

[Miss J]

We've had them made by our Chinese friend's mother. She stuffed a pork mixture between two slices, battered, then fried them. I'll email her this thread to see if we can get a recipe.

They were good, but had too much five spice powder in them. I hate that flavor when its too strong.

Either way, I'm still fascinated. I'll just be sure to go easy on the 5-spice powder if you're able to pass the recipe my way.  

Miss J

[Linhua]

Fried Lotus Root is a very common dish in northern China.  We call it Zha(2) Ou(3) He(2).  The numbers in parentheses indicate the tone how you should pronounce it.  (1->Flat tone; 2->Rising tone; 3->Falling rising tone; and 4->Falling tone).  

The following is a "recipe" from my family.  We used to fry a lot of these before Spring Festival.  And during Spring Festival, we were not supposed to cook any raw food, especially food you had to cut.  (Don't ask me why.)  So fried lotus root was one of the holiday dishes you could see on many families' dining tables.

                          Zha(2) Ou(3) He(2)

Prepare the lotus root:

Fresh lotus root, wash clean.  If the skin looks very clean, keep the skin; if not, peel the skin.  

Steam or boil the lotus root until it is cooked.  

Slice the lotus root like a clamshell with one end still attached.

Prepare the fillings:

Ingredients: Ground pork, chopped scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt.  Stir well.

(I don’t have the exact measure.  It does not matter you have put in too much ground pork or too many scallions.  Just follow your experience or instinct, and do not put too much sesame oil or salt.)

Prepare the flour mix:

Several tablespoonful of flour.  Add 1 egg, and some water.  Stir well.  When it is well mixed, it should look like pancake mix, but a lot thinner.

Final step:

Insert the fillings in between the double sliced lotus root.  Dip the whole thing into the flour mix.  Then deep-fry it until it turns brown.

[Jinmyo]

Linhua, welcome. What a wonderful post. And thank you for your care in posting the Pinyin.

[Jason Perlow]

Hey Lin! Thanks for posting your mom's recipe!

Are there any other spices you are supposed to use in either the batter or the filling?

I remember the five-spice taste when I came over in those lotus root fritters.... Is that optional?

[Miss J]

Wow - what a great post, Linhua. Thanks for the recipe. And thank you also for the pronounciation guide as well. As I'm getting more and more interested in Chinese cuisine, I'm finding that my complete ignorence on how dishes/ingredients are pronounced becoming an issue. Thanks for helping me out.  

[Rachel Perlow]

Lin, what kind of flour is it? Regular all-purpose or rice flour or corn starch?

[Wimpy]

Well, this half-japanese kid can confirm that lotus root is quite common fried tempura-style.  It's actually one of my favorite veggies done this way- batter is crisp (thanks to ice cubes mixed in the batter), and the lotus root crunchy (almost reminscent of water chestnut texture but more flavor if you ask me).  Of course, the tempura sauce adds the essential flavoring.

[Linhua]

Thanks for your encouragement, Jinmyo and Miss J.

And Hi everyone in this forum.  

In terms of other spices such as 5-spice powder, black pepper powder, etc., they are optional.  As for flour, we usually use the regular all-purpose flour, unbleached.

Jason and Rachel,

Maybe we can meet this weekend and make some dumplings with that wild Chinese vegetable I promised long time ago.  This time I promise you no 5-spice powder will be added.

Happy cooking, everyone!

Linhua

[Rachel Perlow]

Lin gave me permission to add a few more notes on her mom's cooking while she was here in America helping with the baby.

On 5-spice powder in the recipe: "There might be. Knowing my mom, she likes to experiment with anything she got from the kitchen.  When she was here, she always said that we bought too many spices, and she felt she was on a mission to finish all of them before we should start buying any more. Therefore, 5-spice powder is optional."

In general: "It is very hard to repeat my mom's recipe. It is dynamic.  She will use whatever on hand at the moment.  We used to order McDonald's a lot when we lived in the city (NYC), and collected many little Catchup bags.  My mom would add one little bagful of Catchup in the soup, another one bagful in the vegetable.  Sometimes the food turned up to be really delicious! It is only in this country that I find out that you can follow a recipe and cook the food to taste exactly the same every time!"

[chefette]

At one restaurant where I worked we sliced the lotus roots very thin with a mandoline, soaked them in greandine syrup overnight, then dried them at low heat in the oven on silpats. Result, lovely lacy bight red lotus chips.