Quick Lotus Stem Stir Fry
The first time we had lotus root was many years ago at an Indian restaurant. Surprisingly, I have never seen it on the menu elsewhere. Their is thick, crispy pieces deep fried and so crunchy and have sweet as well spicy flavor. It is one of my favorite appetizers at this restaurant.
Few years ago, when I had friends over my place, I cooked Asian food. I made bao buns with filling of tofu, eggplant, salad with peanut dressing, green Thai curry, and lotus root stir fried. Everyone seemed to love the lotus stem. Most of them has never tried it before. It was all gone; we didn’t have any leftovers. Since then we make it every now then. I was so happy to introduce it to my friends.
I made it again last week for lunch one of the days I was working from home, as it is super quick to make it.
I know, you might wonder what Lotus Root is? It’s the stem of lotus flower. It looks light brownish in color from outside and white with light pink interior and has wholes. It’s known for its mildly sweet taste and crunchy texture. It is known to have dietary fiber. It is also known as Nadru or Bhein in Hindi. It’s quite famous in North India.
It can be steamed, fried, sautéed, stir-fried.
Often in India, you find it whole stem. In USA, usually I have found it sliced in frozen aisles. I have seen it at Indian grocery stores, H-mart, Walmart, even at Whole foods.
If you happen to find the stem, it needs to be properly cleaned. As it has a lot of dirt. You need to cut off the ends, peel the skin and chop it into desired slices. Just like potatoes should be kept in water, these also need to be kept into water until you are ready to use them.
I have seen people make subjis, pickles, chips, kebabs from lotus stem.
I love making malai kofta from it. The texture reminds me of yucca or cassava.
This recipe is quick because, you just need time to deep fry and rest of the steps are super quick. I deep fry the lotus stems which come pre-cut with some rice flour and corn starch. I sautéed the veggies, added the sauce and tossed the deep-fried lotus stems. It’s that quick. Even though, I hate frying It is okay to fry it once in a while. I am pretty sure, you can bake it too. I haven’t tried baking it. But, if you do please let me know.
Check out this article on The Kitchn !
Quick Lotus Stem Stir-Fry
Ingredients
Deep-Fried Lotus Stem
- Lotus stem, 12 Oz/340 grms pack 3 cups sliced, approximately
- 3 tbsp rice flour
- 3 tbsp corn starch
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Oil for frying
Vegetables
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 jalapeno chopped on bias, optional
- ½ each Red bell pepper & Green Bell pepper chopped into big chunks
- ½ small onions chopped into big chunks
- ¼ cup chopped scallions
Sauce
- 3 tbsp chili sauce
- 1 clove garlic grated (approx 1 tsp)
- 1- inch piece ginger grated
- 1 tbsp soya sauce
- 1 tbsp sriracha or hot sauce optional
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- Black pepper powder
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Thaw the lotus stem for 30 minutes. It is okay if it is still a little less thawed. (Read notes)
- In a small bowl. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and keep it aside.
- Once, thawed. Pre-heat oil for frying at about 300 F at medium flame in a pot.
- While the oil is heating, in a mixing bowl, add corn starch, rice flour, salt, and black pepper powder. Mix it well. Add the lotus stems in the flour mix. Gently coat it with the flour mix.
- Drop the lotus stem slices one by one into the oil. Fry them until crispy and crunchy, slightly golden in color. It’s important to make them crunchy because the texture is amazing that way.
- Remove them on a parchment paper. Finish frying all of them.
- In a pan, take a tbsp. oil. Add the chopped scallions (leave some green part for garnishing, onions, bell peppers and cook them on high heat for 3 minutes.
- Reduce the heat, add in the sauce. Give it a stir and quickly add the fried lotus stem. Toss it until everything is well coated. Taste to adjust the seasonings and spiciness.
Notes
- Be careful, to not break the stems. As they thaw, they also release water and become mushy. Be gentle.
- I have used different types of spices. Adjust according to your taste. You can easily avoid jalapenos.
- Soya sauce also has sodium so please add salt accordingly. You can always add more salt later but cannot change it.
- If it becomes spicier, add a little bit of more honey. The dish is supposed to be sweet and spicy.
XOXO, Devangi