Lotus Root Patties
Looking for new ways to enjoy food? Start with Lotus Root Patties. Follow the steps and have the courage to try. Turn ordinary ingredients into delicious dishes and explore the infinite possibilities of food.
What is Lotus Root Patties?
Lotus Root Patties is a kind of traditional dim sum in which minced meat is placed between two pieces of lotus root. One side of it is coated with glutinous rice. After steaming, it is fried until golden. It seems simple in the making process, but actually it pays great attention to the combination of ingredients and the control of heat.
The most appealing part of this delicacy lies in the layering of taste. The glutinous rice on the outside is fried to be crispy, the minced meat in the middle is delicious and juicy, and the lotus root itself still retains its sweet and crisp taste. Several different tastes are perfectly integrated together.
Lotus Root Patties is quite popular in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. It can be used as a small appetizer before a meal or as a main dish in a regular meal. It's crucial to choose fresh lotus root. The lotus root slices should be cut thin and evenly to ensure the integrity of taste.
Required Ingredients and Substitutes
Main Ingredients
Lotus Root: With a crisp and refreshing taste. After slicing, it serves as the main body to wrap the filling, adding a unique taste.
Ground Pork: Gives the lotus root cake a meaty aroma, enriches the taste of the dish, and is an important part of the filling.
Glutinous Rice: Soft and glutinous after steaming. It adheres to the outer layer of the lotus root cake, enhancing the taste level and richness.
Auxiliary Ingredients
Ginger: Removes fishy smell and adds fragrance. It adds a unique ginger aroma to the filling and removes the fishy smell of the meat.
White Scallions: Adds onion fragrance, helps remove fishy smell, and makes the taste of the filling more mellow and harmonious.
Seasonings
Cooking Oil: Used for frying the lotus root cake to make it heat evenly and fry it until golden brown, adding fragrance.
Salt: Basic seasoning to control the saltiness of the filling and highlight the original flavor of the ingredients.
Cornstarch: Increases the viscosity of the filling, making it easy to mix evenly and form, so that the meat filling adheres better to the lotus root slice.
Beaten Egg: Facilitates the adhesion of glutinous rice to the lotus root cake. At the same time, it makes the surface more crispy during frying and increases nutrition and color.
Pepper: Adds spicy and fragrant taste, removes fishy smell and enhances the taste, enriches the taste level of the filling, and makes the flavor of the filling more sufficient.
Seasoned Salt and Pepper: Sprinkled when taking out of the pan, it adds salty and fragrant taste and unique flavor, enhancing the overall taste of the dish.
Chili Flakes: Added according to personal taste, it adds spiciness and meets the needs of people who like spicy food.
Substitutes
Lotus Root: Can be replaced by yam. It has a soft and glutinous taste and a different flavor, which can make a filled dish with a unique flavor.
Ground Pork: Can be replaced by shrimp meat paste. It has a strong seafood flavor and a more tender taste, bringing a new taste experience.
Glutinous Rice: Can be replaced by purple glutinous rice. It has a beautiful color, more rich nutrition, and a unique rice fragrance.
Cornstarch: Can be replaced by starch. It has the same function to help increase the viscosity of the filling and is conducive to forming.
Beaten Egg: Can be replaced by whole egg liquid. The nutritional components are similar. It can also play the role of adhesion and color enhancement.
How thick should the lotus root slices be cut?
The best thickness of lotus root slices is 3-4 millimeters. This thickness can maintain the toughness of the lotus root slices without affecting the taste too much.
When cutting the slices, a sharp knife should be used, and the knife surface should be perpendicular to the cutting board, so that the thickness of each lotus root slice can be ensured to be uniform. If it is too thin, it is easy to break and cannot wrap the minced meat well. If it is too thick, it needs a longer cooking time and is easy to become soft when cooked.
It is most appropriate to choose lotus root with a diameter of 4-5 centimeters. The size of the lotus root slices cut out is just right for one bite, which is convenient for eating. It is best to cut the two ends of the lotus root flat before slicing, so that each cross-section of the slices can be complete and beautiful.
How to Ensure the Minced Meat Fills the Hollow of the Lotus Root?
The most crucial step is to beat the minced meat until it becomes sticky. After adding an appropriate amount of cornstarch and seasonings, beat the minced meat repeatedly by hand until it becomes viscous. In this way, the minced meat is easier to fill into the holes of the lotus root slices.
When spreading the minced meat, apply it evenly with force. Gently press the minced meat into the holes of the lotus root slices. When stacking two lotus root slices together, press them a little harder. This can make the minced meat fill the gaps better.
Finally, use your fingers to smooth out the excess minced meat at the edges to ensure that the lotus root slices are closely attached to each other. If you find that some parts are not filled, you can add some more minced meat from the edges, but don't add too much to avoid overflowing after cooking.
INGREDIENTS
Main Ingredients
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·200g Lotus Root
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·150g Ground Pork
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·100g Glutinous Rice
Accessories
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·10g Ginger
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·10g White Scallions
Seasonings
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·15ml Cooking Oil
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·3g Salt
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·5g Cornstarch
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·Beaten Egg (as needed)
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·Pepper (to taste)
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·Seasoned Salt (to taste)
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·Chili Flakes (to taste)
Table of Contents
COOKING STEP
Step 1
Peel 200g lotus root and cut it into slices. Then soak the slices in clear water.
Step 2
Put 100g glutinous rice into clear water and soak it for 40 minutes.
Step 3
Prepare 150g ground pork and add chopped scallions and ginger slices.
Step 4
Add 3g salt, sprinkle a little pepper, and put 5g cornstarch. Mix well and beat until it has viscosity
Step 5
Take a slice of lotus root, and spread the minced meat evenly on the lotus root slice.
Step 6
Then stack two lotus root slices together and press them gently.
Step 7
Make the minced meat fill the hollow of the lotus root, and smooth the minced meat at the edge of the lotus root slice with your fingers.
Step 8
Dip one side of the lotus root roll in beaten egg.
Step 9
Then coat it with glutinous rice. At the same time, coat the side of the lotus root roll with glutinous rice.
Step 10
After coating, place the lotus root roll with glutinous rice facing up on the steamer rack.
Step 11
When the water in the steamer boils, put the placed lotus root roll in, cover the lid, and steam over high heat for 15 minutes until the glutinous rice is cooked through. Then take it out.
Step 12
Pour 15ml of oil into the pan.
Step 13
After heating, dip the side of the lotus root roll that is not coated with glutinous rice in beaten egg.
Step 14
Put it into the pan and fry slowly until it turns golden.
Step 15
Sprinkle a little seasoned salt and chili flakes.
Step 16
Take out the dish and place it on a plate.
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Recipe Variations
Here are some recipe variations for lotus root cakes:
Ingredient replacement:
Whole grain lotus root cake: Replace glutinous rice with an equal amount of purple rice or brown rice. These whole grains are rich in more dietary fiber and nutrients, which can make the lotus root cake have more chewiness and have a unique aroma of grains, making it healthier and more nourishing to eat.
Seafood lotus root cake: Replace the minced lean meat with an equal amount of shrimp meat mixed with a small amount of fish meat. The addition of seafood will endow the lotus root cake with a delicious taste, making the taste more tender and juicy, while improving the protein content and nutritional value of the lotus root cake, giving it a unique flavor.
Filling seasoning:
Sweet and spicy lotus root cake: Add 5 grams of sweet and spicy sauce and 3 grams of white sugar to the original minced meat, and stir evenly to make the filling. The lotus root cake made in this way has a unique flavor of sweet and spicy. The combination of sweet and spicy taste and the sweet and fresh taste of lotus root can stimulate the taste buds and increase appetite.
Five-spice lotus root cake: Add 2 grams of five-spice powder and 2 grams of light soy sauce to the minced meat to make the lotus root cake have a strong five-spice taste, which is more mellow and fragrant, enriches the taste level, and has a strong fragrance when eaten.
Cooking method:
Fried lotus root cake: Put the steamed lotus root cake into a hot oil pan and control the oil temperature at around 160-180°C. Fry until the surface is golden and crispy. The outer skin of the fried lotus root cake is more crispy, with a crispy and delicious taste, but the calorie is relatively high. It is suitable for people who like crispy taste to taste occasionally.
Air fryer lotus root cake: Put the lotus root cake coated with egg liquid and glutinous rice into the air fryer, bake at 180°C for 10-12 minutes, turn over in the middle until the surface is golden. This way of making the lotus root cake has lower fat content. It has the aroma of baking on the taste and still maintains softness and glutinousness. It is more healthy and convenient.
Storage Instructions
The best way to store Lotus Root Patties is to refrigerate them for 2-3 days. They should be placed at room temperature for no more than 6 hours. It is not recommended to freeze them.
The specific method is to put the completely cooled Lotus Root Patties into a fresh-keeping box, close the lid tightly, and then place them in the temperature area of 2-5 degrees in the refrigerator fresh-keeping compartment. It is recommended to steam them for 2-3 minutes or microwave heat them for 1 minute before eating, so as to restore the taste.
When heating, sprinkle some water on the fresh-keeping box or plate, cover it with plastic wrap and then heat it. This can keep the moisture and taste of the Lotus Root Patties. If any strange smell or mildew phenomenon is found, it should be discarded immediately and not eaten. It is best to make and eat them immediately in daily life to get the best taste.
FAQs:
If fried first, the glutinous rice will become loose due to the oil temperature. It is easy to fall off during subsequent steaming, and it is not easy to steam through. In addition, a layer of oil film will form on the surface of the fried glutinous rice, which is not easy to absorb water during steaming, and it is difficult to achieve the soft and glutinous taste.
According to the traditional method, it is more reasonable to steam first and then fry. Steaming can make the glutinous rice fully absorb water and become soft. The meat filling can also be fully cooked. After steaming, then fry. A golden and crispy outer skin will form on the surface of the glutinous rice, which will make the taste and appearance better.
It is recommended to put the lotus root slices into clean water for soaking immediately after cutting. The water temperature should be appropriate to the room temperature, and the amount of water should cover the lotus root slices. If you are worried about the color change of the lotus root slices, you can add a few drops of white vinegar to the water, which can keep the lotus root slices white.
When frying, be a little patient. With medium-low fire, the glutinous rice can slowly turn golden yellow, so it won't have the situation that the surface is charred black while the inside is not heated through. If the fire is too big, it is easy to fry the outside too black, affecting the taste and appearance.
It takes about 3-4 minutes to fry one side. When seeing the surface of the glutinous rice turn evenly yellow, you can turn it over. In the whole process, turn the fried lotus root rolls as little as possible to keep the complete shape and make the finished product more beautiful.
When the fried lotus root rolls are just put into the pan, don't rush to turn them over. Let them stay in the pan quietly for a while. Turn them over only when the surface becomes hard. If you are afraid of sticking, fry them with a non-stick pan. But you also need to pay attention to the fire degree not being too high.
If you use an iron pan, you should heat the pan in advance and then pour in the oil. Doing this can greatly reduce the chance of sticking.