Lotus Seed (Lian Zi)
栗のようにホクホク！広東の甘いスープに欠かせない「泥の中の真珠」
Description
Shelled, dried round seeds forming after Lotus flowers fall. Medically said to 'calm the mind and improve insomnia'. Braising long-term yields a fluffy, sticky texture like chestnut or sweet potato. With elegant sweetness, it's heavily used in Cantonese desserts and soups.
Classification: Everyone, Ingredient, Medicinal, Lian Zi, Lotus Seed, Dessert, For Soup, Fluffy
Shops selling Lotus Seed (Lian Zi)
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The How to use section below is a general reference, not instructions from the listed shops.
How to use
Ingredients
- Dried seeds of Nelumbo nucifera(Lotus)
Instructions
- [Typical Uses]
- [Yin Er Lian Zi Geng (Sweet Wood Ear & Lotus Soup)]: Rehydrated white wood ears, lotus seeds, jujubes, and goji boiled meltingly soft with rock sugar—China's representative beauty dessert.
- Add as an ingredient in chicken/pork bone medicinal soups (Lao Huo Tang).
- Mash and knead sweet to make the highest-grade filling (Lian Rong) for mooncakes and buns.
Learn more Substitutes, pairings, tips
Key spices
Fluffy chestnut-like texture、with clean、elegant、pure sweetness
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
Substitute texture with candied chestnuts or sweet potatoes (but they disintegrate easily)
Pairing
Sweet Dessert Soups (Tong Sui) / Pork Bone Soup / Mooncakes
Trivia
At Chinese wedding banquets, a sweet soup with lotus seeds (Lian Zi) and jujubes (Zao) is mandatorily served. This is an auspicious pun for 'Zao Sheng Gui Zi' (May you soon bear a healthy child).
Eating tips & etiquette
Sold dried, so soak in water for hours before use. If the green 'core (germ)' remains in the center, it is extremely bitter and must be pushed out with a toothpick (buying 'Qu Xin' / core-removed products is convenient).
Allergen
None