Japanese Simmered Lotus Root

Have you ever wandered through an Asian market and tried to figure out what all those things were -yep me too. For starters, I don’t speak Chinese, Japanese, or any other Asian language, which means I can’t really read the labels in the store either - sigh.

Some things are obvious - noodles (sometimes they even have an English word on the package), chips, bread, and for the most part mushrooms - that is of course provided you know the difference between a cremini and king oyster. 

We have a favorite Chinese restaurant not too far from our house. They make the BEST garlic eggplant and veggie potstickers. We tried a new dish; seafood and tofu hot pot a few months ago. The spices were perfect, the tofu and seafood fresh and the dish contained lotus root, which I don’t recall ever having before but I really liked it. 

Fast forward to a trip to the Asian grocery store and in the prepared foods, they had - you guessed it - lotus root. It was peeled, sliced, and vacuum-packed. I thought what the heck let’s try it. So, I brought it home put it in the fridge, and promptly forgot about it until last night.

Since I’ve never tried it before I had no idea what to do with it so I consulted my friend Pinterest and turns out there are many ways to prepare it. I wanted something easy so I settled on the recipe below. It’s a simple method with just a few ingredients and the end result was delicious - I’d definitely try it again. 

Thanks to Janet at The Taste Space for the recipe!

Ingredients:

2-2.5 cups lotus root, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari

1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

dash of chili flakes, optional (shichimi togarashi is recommended)

Instructions:

1. Soak the lotus slices in cold water for 10 minutes and drain.

2. In a large saucepan over high heat, warm both oils. Once hot, add the lotus root slices and cook until they become soft. Stir in the mirin, soy sauce/tamari and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the marinade has almost disappeared. Remove from heat, sprinkle with sesame seeds and shichimi togarashi before serving.

Thanks for stopping by!