A very crunchy vegetable – Lotus Root 蓮藕

Posted on by hongkongdietitian

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Image from http://e.blog.xuite.net/e/5/c/b/11688571/blog_840904/txt/18099528/21.jpg

Ummmm… I haven’t had Lotus Root for many many years now. I remember my mum likes to cook them in soup when I was in Hong Kong and I quite like eating the less crunchier version of Lotus Root. But after I came to Australia, I seldom see them in supermarkets plus I don’t know how to cook them, I have not had them for quite some time!

There are many ways to cook Lotus Root (蓮藕). The most common way to cook them would be in soup, stir-fry, steam, and even in salad.

lotusrootsoup

Lotus Root and Peanuts Soup

Image from: http://www.noobcook.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/lotusrootsoup.jpg

Lotus Root, by its name, we can tell that it belongs to the ‘root vegetable’ sub-group. Other root vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and taro, shared very similar nutritional content as Lotus Root.

If Lotus Root is part of Australian’s typical diet, it would also be considered as a starchy vegetable (like potatoes!).

According to the AGHE, a serve of vegetables is about 75g (100-350 kJ).

One serve of Lotus Root is also 75g (~9 slices). This provides around 230 kJ, 13g of carbohydrates, and 4g of dietary fibre, which are more of those than a serve of potato!

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Info from Calorie King

As I have mentioned briefly in previous post, dietary fibre is very important to keep our bowels healthy.

There are two types of fibre:

  1. Soluble fibre forms a gel like substances in our bowels which can help stabilising blood glucose level. In
  2. Insoluble fibre slows down digestion to help us feel full for longer and adds bulk to our faeces

For more information about dietary fibre, you can refer to the Dietitians Association of Australia website and the Better Health Channel from the Victorian Government.

For further information about Lotus Root, this is a very good site to get your information from! – Health Benefits of Lotus Root.

Is there anything you would like to know more about in my future posts?

Please feel free to provide some feedback in the comment section below.

See you.

Eva 🙂

References

Australian Government – Department of Health. (2015). Vegetables and Legumes / Beans. Retrieved from https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/food-essentials/five-food-groups/vegetables-and-legumes-beans

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