This light and comforting soup is great especially during cold weathers. The slow simmering of the soup brings out the flavour of the ingredients: lotus, root and meat. Lotus root soup is a popular Chinese style soup enjoyed by many.
Like ABC soup, the Lotus Root Soup will warm you up on a cold and rainy night, and when you’re feeling ill or unwell.
Lotus root soup is known as Leng Ngau Tong in Chinese. It has an auspicious significance in Chinese culture, making it a common dish to serve during Chinese New Year. Lotus root represent abundance while peanuts signify wealth.
Classic lotus root soup is cooked using pork ribs. However, chicken can replace pork if desired. Other ingredients commonly used include dried cuttlefish, peanuts, red dates, and scallops.
The addition of cuttlefish and peanuts give extra flavour to this dish. You don’t need to remove the peanuts’ skins as it will give a nice colour to the soup. However, you can remove some of the skins if you prefer your soup clear.
Lotus root soup requires as long as 2 hours for it to cook. Sometimes it can take up to 4 hours under very low heat to allow the vegetables to slowly release their nutrients. However, it will need only about 30 minutes if you use a pressure cooker.
This refreshing soup has all kinds of health benefits. Ranging from boosting your immune system to helping with your digestion. It also has cooling properties which help to maintain a healthy body.
Ingredients (4 servings):
- 1 dried cuttlefish
- 1 L water
- 200g pork neck bones or pork ribs
- 100g peanuts (blanched and some skins removed)
- 5 red dates (soaked for 15 minutes)
- 200g lotus root (peeled and cut into thick slices)
- Salt to taste
Directions:
- Toast the dried cuttlefish in a frying pan until fragrant. Then, cut into smaller pieces and set aside.
- Boil some water in a pot to blanch the pork bones. Once the water is boiling, add the pork bones and blanch for another 5 minutes. Then, remove it and rinse with cold water.
- Discard the water in the pot, then fill in 1 litre of fresh water. Bring the water to a boil over medium heat.
- Add blanched pork bones, toasted cuttlefish, red dates, peanuts, and lotus root. Let the water boil again.
- Then, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Make sure to skim the surface of the soup occasionally to remove impurities.
- Add salt to taste and serve immediately. Enjoy!
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