Roasted Lotus Root

Have you ever seen one of these before??  This is actually the root of the Lotus flower which is a perennial water plant native to tropical Asia and some parts of Australia.

I found mine at the Chinese Superstore (T&T) in Ottawa.  I think it was about $2.50 for two decent sized pieces. 

I found a recipe for it in Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet.  Her recipe called for leeks and sunchokes, but I couldn't find any sunchokes, so I just used the lotus root. 

I sliced my lotus root into fairly thin slices.  Then I pressed 3 garlic cloves with some olive oil and tossed the lotus root with the oil.  I spread the oiled sliced on a cookie sheet and put it into a preheated oven at 375 degrees F.  After 12 minutes I sprinkled the root slices with a mixture of 1 tsp. soy sauce and 1 Tbsp. maple syrup and flipped them over.  I then put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes. 

The roasted lotus root was really delicious.  They don't have a strong flavour, but the maple syrup makes them sweet and caramelizes nicely giving them a great texture.

I decided to serve them with a simple stir fry with cabbage, broccoli, carrot, asparagus, celery, oyster mushrooms, onions, peppers and cashews.  I used a vegetarian fish sauce and soy sauce with garlic, ginger and lime juice to season the stir fry and served it up on a bed of brown rice. 

Super delicious!!  Give it a try!!