Lotus Root Soup Recipe

Soup is a must have for dinner in my family. All of us LOVE soup,  any kinda soups, be it clear or thick, herbal or non-herbal, brewing or double-boiling, as long as it is a bowl of piping hot soup, we all LOVE！
I always cook my soups for at least 1hr because the long you slow boil the soup, the tastier it is！If it is herbal soups, I'll cook them for at least 2hrs and I'll doubled the amount of Chinese herbs so that the taste will be fantastic！
Today I'm not going write on any herbal soups, maybe some other days.  Lotus Root is the main ingredient for today's soup. I promised one of my blogger friends, Kay of Photos and Thoughts of My Home Cooked Meals that I'll write up a recipe of the lotus root soup for her as she would love to see it！I'm very happy and feel so honored because I'd never think that anyone will be interested in my cooking except my family！
Lotus Root (Renkon in Japanese) is a popular vegetable throughout southern and eastern Asia but not as well known in the west. It is the rhizome of the Lotus Plant, a genus of aquatic plants with showy flowers resembling the waterlilies which lead to a common misconception. There are a few names including Indian Lotus, Sacred Lotus and Bean of India. It is the National Flower of Egypt, India and Vietnam.  
Native to Asia, Lotus Root is commonly cultivated, believed to have various medicinal qualities in Chinese medicine in the past and have serveral methods of cooking, ie : boiled, blanched, steamed, stewed, stir-fried and deep-fried as the most commonly used. Some even eat it raw but only younger roots because matured roots are slightly bitter and have a taste of tannin, so should not be eaten raw. Lotus Root is full of Dietary Fiber, has a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin B1(Thiamin) and Vitamin B6(Pyridoxine). It's also packed with other nutrients like Potassium, Phosphorus, Copper and Manganese.   
In Singapore, Lotus Roots selling at the wet markets are fresher either covered with mud or cleaned ones. You'll get those vacuum packed ones at supermarkets. Choose a nice fresh one that is in light nude-brown color. Older ones are browner, the older it is, the darker color it has. I always buy fresh cleaned ones from the market because those covered with mud look yucky to me and I always have tissue papers stand-by in my hands whenever I do marketing. I just don't like the feeling of having my fingers with soils after touching or taking the veggies and wet after choosing the fish. This is why from young, my mom always says that I'm like a "Missy--Rich man's daughter" (千金小姐), one who can never survive hard-life. 

Ingredients For 2-4 Pax :

 

• 300g Pork Ribs (Washed and rinsed)
• 1 Large/2 Small sections of fresh Lotus Root (Peeled, sliced ½ cm thick and soaked in water to prevent it from turning brown)
• *½ Packet of Raw Peanuts for cooking (Rinsed and soaked in hot water) Optional 
• 5 Red Dates or more (Washed and rinsed)
• 2 Honey Dates
• A Handful of Wolf-berry
• *2 Liters of water
• Salt and Light Soy Sauce to taste (I usually add half-half each)

*I always like to add peanuts because it adds extra flavor to the soup, both my girls and my hubby love it so much but I didn't add as I couldn't get the it from the supermarket. 

How to cook :

1. If adding peanuts: Fill pot with *3 liters of water, add in peanuts (w/o the soaking hot water) and sliced lotus roots, bring to boil. Once the water boils, lower heat and simmer for 30mins, covered. *Stick to using 2 liters of water if not adding peanuts*
2. Meanwhile, boil about 1 bowl of water in another small pot, add in the pork ribs to 'wash' in boiling water for about 1-2mins. Take it out and set aside.
3. After 30mins, add in pork ribs, red dates and honey dates, cover and simmer for another 30-45mins.
4. Wash and rinse the wolf-berry at the last 20mins, add into soup, add salt and light soy sauce to taste. Boil for the last 15mins and off the heat.
5. Serve hot and enjoy！

Lotus Root Soup
Cooked on 25 July 2011

This is cooked on 27 April 2011
I added Fresh Burdock Root aka Chinese Yam, commonly known as Huai Shan/Shan Yao(淮山/山药) (Gobo in Japanese) 

There are a few other soups that I cook very often, ie : Old Cucumber Soup, Watercress Soup, ABC Soup (consists of potato, carrot, sweetcorn, red onion etc that's why we called it the ABC Soup), Ginseng Chicken Herbal Soup, Black Chicken Herbal Soup and many other soups because we just LOVE soups so much and Cantonese (although I'm a Hokkien but my hubby is a Cantonese) believed that Soups are very nutritious and even if you don't have any appetites, at least drink a bowl of piping hot soup！
Kay, hope you like this Lotus Root Soup Recipe！