Steamed Lotus Root with Minced Meat

I love everything about the Lotus Plant. Besides having beautiful, stunning blooms, all parts of the plants has some uses. Lotus is an ancient plant and was growing in the northern hemisphere about 135 million years ago! It is an economically important aquatic plant in China. The uses of the root as food can be traced in history in three to five thousand years. Lotus seeds or nuts can be eaten raw or dried and are believed to be beneficial to health. These seeds are boiled, mashed and cooked with sugar into a paste which is called "Lotus Seed Paste"and is a common ingredient used in Chinese pastry and desserts like the Chinese Mooncake, Chinese Bao (sweet buns) and Chinese Pancakes. Immature seed pods and leaves are also used in food preparation. All parts of the lotus plant are known to be used in Chinese medicine. Lotus plants also have a religious significance in Buddhism, which represents purity of the body, speech, and mind.

The lotus roots are really good boiled in soups, it is one of my favourite Chinese soup. For a change, I steamed it with some minced meat as a dish for our dinner and it is really good. Found this recipe in one of our local books on steamed cuisine, with some slight changes. If you have not tried lotus root before, start with this, I'm very sure that you'll enjoy this. Or for a stir-fry dish, hop over to my other recipe, Stir Fry Lotus Roots with Water Chestnut and Sweet Peas.

Lotus root, dried Chinese sausage, dried mushroom

I'm sharing this with Full Plate Thursday over at Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Steamed Lotus Root with Minced Meat
Ingredients
200gm lotus roots (peeled lightly with a peeler, cleaned and sliced to 1/4" thick)
1-2 tbsp corn flour (for dusting)

For the filling :
200gm minced pork
2 dried mushroom (soaked till soften, and diced finely)
1 dried Chinese sausage (remove casing, diced finely)
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp corn flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1-2 tbsp Chinese cooking oil, optional

1. For the filling : Mix all ingredients together to form a sticky paste. Take about 1 tbsp of paste and mould into small balls. Keep aside.
2. Dust the sliced lotus roots on one side with some corn flour. Place one ball of filling on dusted surface, flatten it down slightly and arrange on a heatproof plate. Repeat with the rest of the sliced lotus root and the filling.
3. Steam in a preheated steamer over a high heat, covered for about 20 minutes until cooked. Remove from heat, splash some Chinese cooking wine, if desired, garnish with some chopped spring onions and serve hot. Enjoy!