36 recipes. Page 1 of 2
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The lotus root, burdock and carrot go into the fat left from browning the chicken before any broth is added, so even after braising the vegetables taste of chicken. It is cooked down until only a little liquid is left in the bottom of the pot, and it reheats fine the next day.
This two-serving chirashi-zushi arranges salmon and tuna sashimi, thin egg crepe, cucumber, blanched lotus root, and salmon roe over rice seasoned with sushi vinegar. Fold the seasoning into the warm rice without crushing the grains, spread it out, and let the steam escape before adding raw fish. Cook the egg in a thin sheet and cut it into 3 mm strips. Blanch the sliced lotus root for 1 minute and drain it well so excess water does not collect on the rice. Keep the sashimi refrigerated until assembly, blot only surface moisture with a clean paper towel, and serve the finished bowls immediately.
Mala xiangguo takes the numbing, spicy flavors of Sichuan hot pot and puts them into a dry stir-fry: beef, lotus root, shiitake, and bok choy get only a thin coat of mala sauce, with no broth at all. Everything is patted or shaken dry first: with nothing simmering, any water left on the ingredients just pools in the pan.
Lotus root sliced thin and steeped slowly over low heat lets its starch out bit by bit, so the tea looks clear but has a slightly silky body. Five minutes in cold water after slicing rinses off the surface starch and keeps the tea from going cloudy. Most of the sweetness comes from the jujubes in the pot.
The lotus root is cut 0.7 cm thick and browned in a pan first; the soy and rice-syrup glaze only goes on for the last minute or two. It is far crunchier than Korean braised lotus root, which simmers in soy for a long time. Once cool, the glaze that has run into the holes sets and stops being sticky.
Every solid in this pot, from chicken and lotus root to taro, konnyaku and fish cake, is cut to the same 1cm dice, so each spoonful carries a little of everything. Dabu comes from the Karatsu area of Saga, and its name is said to echo zabu-zabu, the sound of plenty of broth sloshing around the ingredients. Neighbors once gathered to cook it in large pots for weddings, funerals and invited guests. The cut changed with the occasion: squares for celebrations, triangular konnyaku for Buddhist memorial meals.
Lotus root stays crisp even when fully cooked, and here a thin layer of seasoned ground beef is pressed onto each slice, giving one bite two very different textures. The slices go into the pan beef side down first, letting the meat set onto the root.
No meat and no anchovy go into this stew, only vegetable stock. To give the broth some aroma, the onion and oyster mushrooms are fried in sesame oil first. The lotus root cooks just until a chopstick slides in, and the perilla powder goes in at the very end for a brief warm-through over low heat. Boiled for long, perilla turns chalky rather than nutty.
A spoon of gochujang (Korean chili paste) in the soy sauce turns the lotus root a reddish brown and adds a low heat under the sweet-salty glaze. Pork shoulder, marinated briefly with ginger juice and browned with onion first, leaves its fat in the pot for the lotus root to soak up, which makes this heartier than a plain lotus root side. The crunch of the root against the tender pork is the whole point.
Thin slices of cucumber, eggplant, lotus root and carrot share the bowl with chewy wood ear mushroom, shiso and ginger, and each bite lands somewhere different on the crunch scale. Each vegetable is prepped on its own terms: the hard lotus root and carrot get a short blanch, while the softer cucumber and eggplant are rubbed with salt instead. The sweet vinegar with sliced red chili is boiled once and then cooled all the way down. Poured on while still warm, it costs the cucumber and lotus root their snap. Squeezing the salted cucumber and eggplant hard after rinsing keeps the dressing from going watery. Half an hour in the fridge is enough before serving it cold with its liquid.
Crisp blanched lotus root and chunky crab sit together in a yuja mayonnaise, two textures that stay distinct when each is handled gently. Yuja marmalade, made from a fragrant Korean citron, brings sweetness and a floral citrus note that lighten the mayonnaise, and a little lemon juice sharpens it further. Thin red onion spends a moment in cold water first so its bite does not drown out the yuja. The salad is piled onto baby greens and served cold.
Whole crucian carp are wrapped tightly in kombu, tied with dried gourd strips, and cooked for about 10 hours in red-miso broth until the bones are soft enough to eat, in this dish from Kashima in Saga. River and creek carp supplied winter protein when Ariake Sea fishing slowed, and in Kashima the dish is offered to Ebisu on January 20.
The rice itself stays unseasoned, and a simple soy and sesame oil sauce comes on the side, mixed into each bowl a little at a time to keep it from getting too salty. Thin lotus root slices steam on top of the rice instead of being stirred in. They stay whole, turn translucent at the edges, and keep a light crunch.
Dried taro stems (imogara) are soaked for 30 minutes, fried in oil with lotus root, carrot, fried tofu and konjac, then simmered uncovered in a sweet soy liquid. By the end almost nothing is left in the pot; the stems are soft to chew while the lotus root still has its crunch.
Thin slices of lotus root turn faintly translucent at the edges in anchovy broth while their centers stay crisp. Some of the root's starch slips into the liquid and gives the soup the slightest body. Garlic, soup soy sauce, salt, and black pepper season it lightly, leaving the lotus root's mild sweetness at the front.
The holes of each lotus root slice show through a thin, crisp batter, so every piece comes out looking like lace. Biting in gives a clean crunch first, then a slightly sticky chew from the root. Slices cut 5 to 6 mm thick keep that crunch while still cooking through in the center.
Thin, even slices of lotus root end up with a thin brown soy glaze outside and a crisp, lacy bite inside. Cutting every slice to the same 0.5 cm is what lets them all cook to the same point in the same time. A quick blanch and a rinse in cold water before braising take off the surface starch and astringency, and skipping it leaves that rough edge under the glaze. A tablespoon of vinegar added with the rice syrup near the end keeps the sweetness light despite all that shine. Cooled completely and refrigerated, the slices keep drawing in seasoning and taste more even the next day.
A splash of vinegar in the blanching water keeps lotus root slices pale and clean, and a quick dunk in cold water right after locks that color in. After thin peeling, each piece is rinsed right through the holes, where soil tends to hide. The soy brine gets bay leaf and black peppercorns and only a short simmer, because reducing it makes the pickle too salty. Even slices cook and season evenly, and shaking off the water keeps the brine from going thin. Poured on hot, the brine runs into every hole, and after two to three days in the fridge the centers are seasoned while the slices still have a crisp, fibrous chew.
Sweet autumn persimmon and crisp blanched lotus root alternate in every bite of this salad. Crumbled feta brings a salty, tangy edge that makes the fruit taste sweeter, and a dressing of only lemon juice, olive oil and honey leaves the main ingredients uncovered.
Fine powder left over from making koya-dofu, Japan's freeze-dried tofu, is stirred into a pot of diced chicken and root vegetables, where it drinks up the dashi and clumps into soft, crumbly curds. This home dish from Takacho in Hyogo is eaten with a spoon: everything from carrot and burdock to konnyaku, chikuwa fish cake, and fried tofu is cut small so each bite gets a bit of everything.
The chicken flavor comes in twice: breast meat poached separately with green onion and ginger, then shredded, and a full pot of chicken stock as the cooking liquid. Lotus root is minced only a little larger than the rice grains, enough to give a slight bite inside the smooth porridge without feeling like separate chunks.
Soy sauce with mirin and a little oligosaccharide syrup gives it a faint sweetness. The chicken breast never cooks through on its own: as soon as the outside turns white the lotus root and onion go in, and that timing is what keeps the chicken from drying out.
Slices cut a full 1cm thick and cooked covered over low heat give this lotus root dish a chunkier bite than thin soy-glazed versions, with a core that stays crunchy. A soak in vinegared water right after slicing keeps the cut faces from browning. Jocheong, a Korean grain syrup, sweetens the soy instead of sugar and leaves a mellow malty note along with the gloss.
Starting with sliced lotus root boiled in vinegar water helps remove bitterness while keeping the vegetable pale and crisp. The seasoning combines gochugaru, minced garlic, and anchovy fish sauce with the addition of fresh pear juice. This pear juice provides natural sugars and necessary moisture so the chili paste coats each slice evenly without becoming dry or clumping. Even after the fermentation process begins, the lotus root maintains its signature firm and crunchy texture. Sliced scallions are tossed in to add a fresh aromatic quality that balances the spicy garlic paste. One full day of refrigeration allows the flavors to settle into the flesh before serving. Because the seasoning gets trapped inside the characteristic holes of the root, the paste should remain thick rather than watery to ensure consistent flavor. When left to ferment for a few more days, the developing acidity helps cut through the richness of grilled meats or fried dishes.