Text | Gu Qingsheng
Lotus root is a medicine, but also a vegetable, into the vegetables, can make a lot of sweet and crisp food. Fresh lotus root contains a lot of carbohydrates, protein, a variety of vitamins, minerals content is also very rich, can be eaten as a fruit, can also be used as a cooking dish, but also can be pickled with sugar into preserves, or made into lotus powder, all have a unique flavor.
Said the lotus lover
Mention lotus roots always evoke some memories of my youth. In the memory that has been bleached by the years, the lotus flower will be gone, and it will leave a green lotus canopy surrounded by flowers, and the lotus canopy will grow slowly, and we will tie the wire hook to the bamboo pole to hook the lotus and peel the tender lotus rice to eat. Tender lotus rice, it has the sweetness of water. Or dig a hole in the middle of the large lotus leaf, put it on the neck as a shoulder, and wear a small torn lotus leaf tip hat on the head, which looks like a small soldier.
But the people of Jiangnan still remember the lotus root pork rib soup simmered on the small charcoal stove of red mud. The lotus root pork rib soup that nourishes our lives and nourishes our memories is something I yearn for even when I think back in Kyoto. People in Jiangnan do not seem to simmer lotus root rib soup, whether it is an intellectual who is only eight buckets and learns five cars, or whether it is a craftsman Who does not know a liter of bucket characters, the desire to drink lotus root rib soup is the same, even the sand pot is the same.
Lotus root rib soup is a nourishment to people, so we are convinced, and when manual laborers are very tired, we have to say: Alas, it is time to simmer the rib lotus root soup and drink it. If the mental worker suddenly feels a nervous breakdown, he says the same thing: It seems that it is not okay not to drink pork rib soup. In this way, we all have unlimited hope for lotus root rib soup, which dispels cold and heat, relieves fatigue and essence, and is very sacred.
Simmered pork rib lotus root soup, most people like powder lotus, powder lotus silk, eat and powder, but also to pull out a lot of lotus silk, idiom in the lotus broken silk, refers to such a kind of powder lotus. The skin of the pink lotus is rust-colored, and it is not as white and thick as the sweet lotus. The soup of powdered lotus should be darker in color, such as light ink. Sweet lotus is crisp and tender, the taste is sweet, so the lotus is not a lot, there are also people like to use sweet lotus simmered pork rib soup, we call the sweet lotus root, that is, most of it is used to cut shreds or slices of stir-fried vegetables. Generally speaking, the lotus clip is also made of sweet lotus, sandwiched with meat filling in the middle, sandwiched with lotus slices, floured on the lotus slices, fried and dried, steamed at any time, cooked and eaten, naturally it can also be poured with broth to eat.
Stir-fried meat with lotus shreds, in fact, the taste is not bad, put a little red pepper green garlic, lotus is crisp and sweet, the meat is aromatic, the color is not bad. Fried lotus chips, can be sweet and sour, sweet and sour lotus slices are not bad, but this must be made of sweet lotus, powder lotus, its taste is like sawdust, it is really a waste of materials. In other words, sweet lotus root can be used as a dish or simmered soup, while powder root can only be simmered in soup.
If you look away in the market, buy a powder lotus root for cooking, and buy a sweet lotus root in simmering soup, people will shout: how to do it! People in Jiangnan still retain the cooking utensils for simmering soup such as coal stoves and sand pots today, because of inconvenience, merchants specialize in producing a kind of rice cooker for sand cans, and in some places, there are more and more rice cookers simmering soup with sand cans. Of course, in the busy days, there are also those who do not hesitate to make the pressure cooker simmer soup, and the soup is naturally not in the flow.
Lotus rice can also be made into soup, such as lotus rice black chicken soup, plus large red dates, it is said that there is a big supplement. Or lotus rice stewed pork bladder, not very bad. However, there are many people who use lotus rice stewed longan to make lotus rice longan soup for supper. Playing poker or mahjong until late at night, the lord brought out such a bowl of lotus rice dragon's eye soup, scooped it with a small spoon and drank it, and the spirit was greatly encouraged and the enthusiasm was high.
As for the green lotus leaf, how can you give it up? Boiling rice porridge, such as covering it with a small lotus leaf, the porridge is emerald colored, and the green lotus fragrance is pervasive, for those who work in the sun, it is really possible to get rid of the heat.
Take the lotus leaf wrapped in the ribs steamed, do the lotus leaf steamed ribs, the taste is also unique, tender and not greasy, and clear and delicious. But a good steamed pork ribs, or to pick the lotus flowers, with the ice jade lotus petals wrapped in the ribs, and then placed in the bamboo steamer steaming, the taste is unique, there is a light fragrance of dew and moonlight.
Said the lotus picker
1. The quality requirements of lotus: the lotus body is fat, the meat is crisp and tender, the water is more and sweet, and it is better to have a clear fragrance. At the same time, the lotus body should be harmless, not rotten, no color, no rust spots, no dry shrinkage, and constant joints; the lotus body is accompanied by a thin layer of mud protection.
2. The difference between safflower root and white flower root (that is, pink lotus and sweet lotus): generally speaking, the outer skin of safflower root is brownish yellow, the body shape is short and thick, and the raw lotus tastes bitter; the white lotus root has a smooth skin, silvery white, long and thin body shape, and raw lotus eats sweet. Usually stewed pork ribs lotus soup with safflower root, stir-fried lotus flakes with white flower lotus. In addition, there is a kind of twist lotus of average quality, which has a rough appearance, is pink, and contains more starch.
3. Do not buy bleached lotus roots: Some lotus roots with white appearance and very clean appearance appear to be "selling very well", but they have undergone special treatment of dilute hydrochloric acid bleaching, which will be harmful to the human body.
Who should not eat raw lotus root
Fresh lotus is cold in nature, and it is difficult to digest raw and cold, which hinders the spleen and stomach, so those with spleen deficiency and stomach cold and easy diarrhea should eat cooked lotus. Pregnant women generally need to avoid eating raw and cold after childbirth, but lotus can not be avoided. However, due to the cool nature of lotus, it is not advisable for pregnant women to eat it prematurely. It is generally more appropriate to eat lotus root after one or two weeks after childbirth.
Said the lotus maker
Cooking instructions
★ Lotus root can be eaten raw, cooked, mashed and drunk, or dried and ground to cook porridge.
★ Lotus cooked food is suitable for stir-frying, stewing, frying and making ingredients for dishes, such as "Eight Treasures Brewed Lotus" and "Fried Lotus Box".
★ The uncut lotus root can be left at room temperature for a week, but because the lotus root is easy to turn black, the cut part of the face is easy to rot, so the cut lotus root should be covered with plastic wrap at the incision and refrigerated for about a week.
★ Prevent fresh lotus discoloration: do not use a pig iron pot when processing fresh lotus; in order to make the peeled lotus root not become brown, you can soak the peeled lotus root in thin vinegar water for 5 minutes and then fish it out and dry it, so that it can keep the jade white water tender and not change color; when frying lotus, the lotus silk will usually turn black, if you add some water while frying, the fried lotus root will be as white as jade.
Lotus powder pills - transparent color, refreshing, sweet core filling
Root 500 g, lard plate oil 150 g, osmanthus flower 10 g, rock sugar 50 g, sugar 200 g, orange cake 25 g, sesame seeds 25 g, sesame oil 100 g.
method:
1. Wash and filter the sesame seeds in water, sauté the mill powder, crush the rock sugar, finely chop the orange cake, cut the pork plate oil into small cubes, add sugar (150 grams), osmanthus flowers and stir together to make a ping-pong ball-sized filling.
2. Crush the lotus root into a powder, remove the coarse slag, put it into a porcelain pot, blanch it with 600 grams of boiling water, place it upside down on the board, rub it into long strips, pull it into a "lotus skin" weighing 40 grams each, knead it into a jar shape one by one, stuff it into the filling, seal and round it.
3. Put the pan on a small stove, put sesame oil on the heat, fry the lotus flour pills one by one into the pot, fry until the outside is soft, the color is dark and moist until cooked, put into the bowl, sprinkle with sugar, and serve.
Radish mixed with lotus root - refreshing and delicious
400 grams of lotus root, 80 grams of carrots and white radish, 1 red pepper, 1 spoonful of salt, 3 spoons of fine sugar and white vinegar.
1. Take the tail end of the lotus root into a ball, plan the outer skin, cut into thin slices, and soak in water.
2. Cut 3 cm long thin strips of red and white radish, soften with 1 tbsp salt, take out the lotus root, drizzle the water, and mix well with red and white radish with seasoning, cut a little red pepper and garnish, marinate for 4 hours.