Lily Lotus Stir Fry

Buying the lily bulbs was kind of like buying a really cute pair of shoes didn't go with the rest of my wardrobe-only in this case it was the refrigerator-and so I ventured out to get another series of oddities: lotus root and water chestnuts.

I found a stir fry recipe on a Chinese website and thought I'd give it a try. The recipe came only with the ingredient names (lotus root, lily bulb flakes, water chestnuts and celery) so I was winging it most of the way.

The honey gave out a nice flavor but the end result was still missing something to be honest,soy sauce? I guess I'll figure it out another day...





Lily Lotus Honey Stir Fry
1/2 cup lotus root, peeled and cut into thin pieces
2 lily bulbs, cleaned and flaked
5 water chestnuts, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 small red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 strip ginger root, minced (optional,depending on how you feel about ginger)
1 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons warm water
1 1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Salt (to taste)

1. Boil water in a pan and toss in the lotus root pieces for about 1 minute. Blanch and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve honey and cornstarch in warm water and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok or pan, fry ginger and pepper strips for about 1 minute. Add water chestnuts and lotus root pieces, stir fry for about 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the honey mixture. Cook over moderate heat for another minute, stirring to coat.
5. Add lily bulbs and stir some more until everything looks tender. Turn off heat and add salt to taste.

Alternatively, you can use soy sauce in the place of salt. You can also decrease the cooking time if you prefer a crisp texture for your veggies (or flower parts).

Water Chestnuts (马蹄)
Water chestnuts were not as easy to find as I'd expected: the little vegetable vendor in my housing area for example, didn't carry it, and neither did Carrefour. Eventually I found them at the Lotus supermarket, next to the lotus roots.
Anyway, they are actually a very low-calorie vegetable (around 50 calories per 130 grams) with health benefits similar to lily bulbs (cold energy, clears heat, etc. I'm beginning to realize that I incorporate quite alot of cold foods in my diet)


This was the first time I'd ever bought water chestnuts so I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, it turns out all you have to do it cut off the top and remove the skin using a normal peeler.(A little search engine told me so)