Lotus Root and Peanut Soup with Prime Ribs (莲藕花生排骨汤)

“The best home-taste Asian soup for the foreign home landers..”

This traditional Chinese soup never fails to smother you with plenty of home feeling. Many of our mothers or even ourselves cook this soup so often that it has then become one of the staple food in our households (chuckling). If you are now landing in a foreign place alone, and missing your mum’s cooking or the hometown dishes, boil this soup by your own. The ingredients are simple and easily found in most Asian markets. This home-taste goodness, with a foundation of mineral-rich ingredients, will both satisfy your appetite and heart as a foreign home lander (smile).

Ingredient
1 small lotus root, washed and sliced into 1cm thick lengthwise
1 carrot, cut into bite size pieces
1 small cup of raw peanuts with skin intact, soaked in a pot of water overnight.
300 grams of prime pork ribs, blanched

1 teaspoon of salt

1 pot of water, 50% filled (about 1500ml)

Method:
Boil a pot of water over high heat. Place blanched pork ribs, carrots, lotus roots and peanuts into the pot. Bring it to a boil again. Reduce heat to low fire, and simmer for 3 hours. Add salt to taste. Serve hot.

If you are a working class, and wish to have a bowl of nice hot soup served in your dinner after work, use slow cooker to do the cooking!

Method with slow cooker:
Place water and all ingredients into the croak pot and place it in the slow cooker. Turn on to auto shifted/ low heat mode. Let it simmer till evening or after work. Add salt to taste before serving it.

I loved the crunch of the lotus root, even it is softened. Its contrast texture with the soft cooked peanuts complements each other so well which creates interesting bites. This soup is imaginably flavourful and filled with natural sweetness to the palate, and your heart…

And, there is nothing easier than cooking a heart warming and delicious soup, and then indulge it with for your loved ones after a long day or during some chilly nights. What do you think (smile)?

Variations: Add also a piece of dried cuttlefish (just rinse it before use) for more robust flavour, if desired. I did not add any dried cuttlefish in it as we prefered more subtle taste, and I think the addition of carrots already made wonder for the soup. :)

A bowl of lotus root and peanut soup counts about 200kcal.

Tips: Wash the lotus root very thoroughly to remove the mud on it. Then, use some salt to scrub the entire root, rinse and ready to slice. Or, you may try to get those which have already been cleaned (and/ or packed). You may find it in wet markets and many supermarkets in Singapore.
*Peanuts and lotus roots should be cooked till soften.
* Soup may present slightly opaque in colour due to the immersion of the essence of peanuts (with skin) after long simmering.