How to eat Nagaimo? 怎么吃山药?

Nagaimo as it is called in Japanese or  huái shān (淮山) or shān yào (山药) as in Chinese is a nutrient rich tuber/ root vegetable that is loaded with health benefits.  山药 literally translates to "mountain medicine" and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine long time ago.  You can read more about nagaimo and the nutrition facts here.  The Taiwanese cooking show that I mentioned before introduced me to this way of eating the nagaimo.  It is so easy to prepare and I just need to pound it and mix in with my rice or noodle, so why not?  You can buy the fresh nagaimo at the Asian supermarket.  It is not very cheap but not too expensive either.  Since I am the only one who eats this in my family, I usually buy a small piece, the above picture is 1/3 of what I bought.  I cut about 1/3 of the tuber, wash it and peel it (be careful as it is very slippery, it might cause itching if you are sensitive but you can soak it in vinegar water first), then cut it into smaller pieces and place it in a Ziploc bag and pound it with the back of a cleaver or an empty bottle until mushy like picture shown above.

Lotus Root Cold Dish

Root vegetables are really good for us, so make sure your diet consists of some root vegetables.  I bought a small lotus root recently but instead of making soup with it, I wanted to try something else.  I saw a Chinese cooking show before and they used lotus root to make a cold dish.  I never tried that before and really interested in giving it a go.  There are few recipes in my blog containing lotus root, such as in soup, stir-frying, simmering and even deep-frying, but not a cold dish.  The minced ginger, green onion and toasted sesame seeds gave this dish a great flavor and it was really fragrant with crunchy lotus root.  I loved this way of enjoying the lotus root too.  Give it a try if you haven't tried it this way!

Seasoned Burdock Root

 

Chinese health guru said root vegetables are good for us, so I am trying to eat more.  Root vegetable such as nagaimo (山药), burdock root/ gobo, lotus root, ginger, turmeric, etc.  Nagaimo is really good for us but I have not bought it often as I still have no idea how to incorporate it into our family meal besides making a dessert.  I bought burdock root occasionally to make soup;  even tried it in stir-frying once, but I found it to be quite fibrous and my family members didn't like it.  But I was glad to found this Ueong Jorim (seasoned burdock root) recipe on Pinterest one day.  This is surely a keeper for me, I guess by stir-frying and simmering, it makes it less fibrous that even my little girl likes it. 

Burdock Root/ Gobo Herbal Soup (牛蒡草药汤)

Gobo or burdock root has many health benefits.  It is low in calories and contains a fair amount of fiber, calcium, amino acids and potassium, to list a few.  It has been used traditionally as a medicinal herbs to treat many ailments.  Said to be anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, disease prevention, blood purification and mild laxative.  It can be eaten raw, stir-fry or boil in soup.  I did a stir-fried version here.  But I found it quite fibrous and not as suitable for young children.

You can read more about burdock root at wiki.  I want to make it a habit of drinking this soup at least once a month.

I got this gobo at my Asian market here for 70 cents.  I thought it's pretty reasonable but I had no idea whether it's cheaper at other Asian markets since this was the second time I bought this.  But I have a very bad habit, I don't compare prices when I shop for Asian vegetable, I just buy whatever vegetable that look fresher and would last through a week in my refrigerator.  If you ask me how much are the prices of broccoli, green bean, asparagus, celery, cabbage, brussels sprout, onion, carrot, cauliflower per lb when on sales, I would be able to tell you.  But none of the Asian vegetables I could tell as I don't look at the price, I just grab and in the cart it goes.  Anyone of you behave the same way?

Pan-Fried Stuffed Lotus Roots

Eating lotus root is auspicious for Chinese as we believed that eating it during Chinese New Year will foster the grow of your new venture or business.  When I saw this dish on Chinese T.V. cooking show, I thought that it would be perfect for Chinese New Year.  And then I saw a similar dish at a Taiwanese cooking show, was it asking me to make it?  Haha...  Anyway, it looked delicious and I couldn't wait to try it myself.  Sharing here is my version.  I served it with a sauce so that the stuffed lotus root remain crispy.  A bit time consuming to make this but the result is well worth the effort.

Today is also 人日.  The 7th day of Chinese New Year and also everyone birthday.  祝大家人日快乐!! This day people normally celebrate it with longevity noodle, tang yuen (glutinous balls), yee sang (raw fish salad) and another great feast!

 
Crispy stuffed lotus root drizzled with scallion garlic soy sauce.  Click next for the step-by-step pictures guide.

I am also sharing this recipe with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  The deadline for submission has been extended to Feb 6th, the last day of CNY.  So go see the roundup on the 7th!  :-)

Candied Lotus Root (yeongeun-jeonggwa)

 

Jeonggwa is a traditional Korean confectionery made by boiling/ simmering plant roots, fruits and seeds in sweet syrupy sauce.  Usually served along side other banchan, as a dessert, snack or appetizer.  The one I have here is yeongeun or lotus root (served as side dish), there are ueong jeonggwa made with burdock (served as dessert), saenggang jeonggwa made with boiling down ginger, danggeun jeonggwa made with carrot just to list a few.

This candied lotus root keeps well in the refrigerator.  Edda liked it a lot, both of us had the most of it.  Love the chewy bite and sweet flavor!

Stir Fried Burdock Root with Pork

This was my first time buying a Burdock Root or Gobo (in Japanese) and stir-frying this dish.  Lots of times, I would buy food that was said to have medicinal benefits and this was one of them.  You can read more about Burdock at Wiki.   I heard people used this to make soup but I have yet to try it.  I should have do a search but I wanted to make this dish first.  My friend gave me this recipe and I also had a privilege to try it at her house.  I quite liked it and thus prompted me to buy the Burdock root in the first place.

This root was quite harsh and fibrous and I didn't do the step as mentioned in wiki, "Burdock root is very crisp and has a sweet, mild, and pungent flavor with a little muddy harshness that can be reduced by soaking julienned or shredded roots in water for five to ten minutes."; perhaps that's why.

When my husband first saw this, he asked, "Are those gingers?"  HAHAHA.... Looked similar to ginger right?  I bet it will be delicious with ginger but probably use less than half of the amount.  This stir-fried burdock root was a bit hard to chew but I loved it though.  My girls couldn't eat this and my hubby didn't like it, so I "sapu" (finished) all. 

Lotus Root Soup with Dried Mussels

Recently I asked my readers how they used their dried mussels to cook and this was one of the suggestions.  Except I used chicken drumsticks instead of pork ribs.  This is definitely delicious and the dried mussels brought another flavor into the soup.  This is Chinese dried mussels which you can find in the Asian market.

I would certainly make this soup again!  Thanks friend!  :-)

Stir Fried Mixed Veggies with Lotus Root

If you have noticed like me, lotus root have been appearing on most Chinese New Year meals, either served at home or in a restaurant.  When I did a search, I found that Chinese believed if you eat lotus root during the Chinese New Year, all the new ventures that you are planning for this year will take root and grow.  My friend served lotus root soup on reunion dinner so I served up stir-fried lotus root with mixed vegetable.  It would be nice with some broccoli as well but I just used what I had at home at that moment.  The lotus root and water chestnut gave this dish the crunch.

The food symbolism of this dish are listed below:
Mixed Vegetable (什锦蔬菜) overall means Family Harmony.  Golden lily buds (金针) means wealth.  Water Chestnut (荸薺) means unity.  Shrimp (小虾) means happiness and good fortune.  Sweet corn (甜玉米) means increase growth.  Carrots ( 紅蘿蔔) red color means good luck.  Chinese Cabbage (白菜) means 100 types of prosperity luck.

Reference from Food Symbolism during Chinese New Year celebration.

Nagaimo Mung Bean Dessert

Nagaimo is also called 山药 or 淮山 in Chinese.  It is a type of yam that can be consume raw.  It has long been traditionally used as Chinese medicine and herbology.  They cut it and dried it in pieces for cooking Chinese herbal soup.  It's the white color herb that we called it 淮山.  I just learned that it has other name which is 山药 from my Chinese friends.  I learned this dessert from them as they gave me a container to try.  It was my first time tasting fresh Nagaimo, frankly I didn't like it as they cut it into big chunks.  It was similar to potato in taste but full of potassium, magnesium, zinc, vitamin C, vitamin B1, and more.  It is also low in calories and a high protein tuber.  I saw a Chinese cooking show, where they put cubed and blanched Nagaimo and Pumpkin into heated milk and serve it as breakfast.  Usually you can cook it like what you would normally cook a potato dish.

You can read more about Nagaimo here. And more about the nutritional facts here.

In this dessert, I diced the Nagaimo into small cubes so that it was easier for me.  Since I cooked it in a slow cooker, some of the Nagaimo was blended into the soup when stirring.  It still have pieces of Nagaimo but quite pleasant since it was not in big chunks.  Definitely a dessert I will be cooking if I buy Nagaimo again.

Stir-fry Lotus Root with Snow Peas & Ground Pork

What did I do with the extra lotus root?

I have been seeing stir-fry lotus root in some food blogs and thus I was thinking why not? The above was the first for me because I mainly bought it to make soup. Coincidentally I also bought some snow peas and had some marinated ground pork at home, so why not? The one fool proof way of cooking this will be using oyster sauce, can't go wrong with this and I didn't want to be too adventurous for my first time trying a new dish (shush...picky eater hubby here!).

Verdict: The lotus root is crunchy and actually quite tasty.

I would also like to thanks my girlfriend V at East Meets West Kitchen for awarding me with this Schmooze Award. Not sure whether I have done enough schmooze, but I gladly accept any award throw at me! LOL!


" The POWER OF SCHMOOZE AWARD is the award for bloggers who effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don't limit their visits only to the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship." and so I would like to pass this award to:
More than Words
Kooky Culinary
Food Lover's Journey
Daily Affairs

Lotus Root Soup

Lotus root soup is a comfort soup for me because my mom used to cook it for us. So, when moving here and started to learn cooking and starting to buy my own grocery, of course I couldn't resist not buying the lotus root to cook it myself. I realized that a lot of people cook this soup differently and this is how I cook mine. Pork ribs is definitely a plus in this soup instead of chicken drumsticks because it added the extra sweetness to the soup and matches so well with the lotus root.