Today I ate...

[Ruth]

...LOTUS!

No, not our sister barfly, although her name did come to mind as I was ordering. We've been introduced to a restaurant in town owned by the mother of one of Crippler's students. Said student translated the menu for us and we are sampling our way through it. Today I had candy lotus porridge. Not sure how accurate the translation is. The porridge was rice in a watery, semi-sweet broth. The lotus was little balls of a mild crunchy sort. I don't know how lotus grows. Can someone enlighten me? What part of the plant was I eating?

I could probably Google the answers, but it's so much easier to play dumb and let someone who knows fill me in.

[Lotus Eater]

[glow=red,2,300]I[/glow] am pleased you haven't become a cannibal!

It sounds like lotus seeds. They are crunchy and can be eaten straight from the seed pod when ripe enough. Lotus root is crunchy if cooked properly. It is usually sliced and used in hotpots, or salad type things, with garlic, chili or ginger dressing. The only way I have had lotus that I don't like is when it is candied - they seem to fill it with a sugar concoction and then cook it until softish in a syrup. Way too sweet for me.

My favourite vegetable. I order it as often as possible.

The plant grows in mud, and it will soon be lotus season here. The Chinese tell me that it is a wonderful plant becasue despite it's humble place of growth, it grows pure and beautiful. From the earth to the heaven through water- have I got that right QiQi or Babe?

[Ruth]

Thanks, Lotus. They looked like seeds. Where are the seeds on a lotus plant? Gosh, I'm ignorant when it comes to stuff like this.

One of my companions ordered something called "Little Bundle" (student's translation). It was a block of tofu with soy sauce drizzled over it and a few slices of green onion as well. On the top was half of a clear, brown, rubbery, really salty tasting egg. I tasted it, but won't be ordering it for myself. None of the people I was dining with knew how the egg was prepared. Does anyone know?

[Mr Nobody]

Maybe. If it is what I think, don't ask. Did the egg yolk look greenish or blackish?
Was the egg hen or duck sized?

Was it room temperature or hot?

Ok, checked, probably pidan tofu, the egg is the preserved duck egg.

It is covered in salt and ash, then left for a month or two. Then cooked and eaten. This is the 1000 year egg or preserved duck egg of weird food fame.

I like it, personally, but in tiny amounts. Very strong flavour. i havent' tried this pidan tofu, though. The eggs are cooked first then cooled.

It is eaten cold, and is a cooling dish, for summer.

[Lotus Eater]

I like pidan doufu - with both the black and yellow types. I also make a pidan salad - I buy the pidan from either the markets or the supermarket - bought quail egg pidan the other day for my party. I usually cut the eggs into 4 lengthways, then drizzle sesame oil, vinegar, soy sauce over them, add a little salt and sugar and chopped parsley or chives. Another favourite dish.

When the lotus finishes flowering the seed pod appears - it grows to small plate (bread and butter plate) size, and the seeds are spread out in this pod. When you travel you can often buy the whole pod and just shuck the seeds out to nibble on. Tastes good.

[Raoul Duke]

Ruth, you guys may be too far north, but if you have a pond nearby with "water lilies" growing in them, check back this summer when they bloom. Lotuses (Loti?) look just like the water lilies common in the States but with bigger leaves.

The flowers are wonderful. And the roots (big starchy tuber thingies) and seeds are indeed edible and can be quite tasty. The plant shoots up a spike late in the summer that develops a strange-looking cup on top. This is the seed pod.

I also like the thousand-year eggs. They are weird to look at but really pretty harmless in flavor. The (former) whites become clear and brown, and look like they are made of glass.

There's also a plain old salty duck egg. These look more like regular boiled eggs but IMHO have a stronger and dodgier taste. I find them weirder than the thousand-year kind.

[George61]

Just to chuck a little spanner in the works. Babe used to love "Stinky Dofu"....I tried a small nibble just to keep her happy, but had to spit it out. Then she read a newspaper report that a bunch of people somewhere were caught using actual poo and piss to help their "Stinky Dofu" mature faster. Put her off eating the stuff.

[con's fly is open]

george61 said:

Just to chuck a little spanner in the works. Babe used to love "Stinky Dofu"....I tried a small nibble just to keep her happy, but had to spit it out. Then she read a newspaper report that a bunch of people somewhere were caught using actual poo and piss to help their "Stinky Dofu" mature faster. Put her off eating the stuff.

[Ruth]

Thanks for the help, all. I'll take these names back to my companions and see if one fits. One gal was trying to tell us the eggs were covered in the same kind of stuff her husband uses to build roads. We gave up when we guessed 'concrete' and she knew it wasn't that. I'll see if 'ash' is a better description. Apparently you can buy these eggs wrapped in 'grass' in little plastic pouches at the store. Probably stuff I just glance over when I'm shopping. I tend to do that if something doesn't look familiar.

I would say that this egg was chicken egg sized. It was half an egg, cut lengthwise. The yolk seemed to be dark brown or black. The white was clear and brown and of jelly substance.

[Lotus Eater]

If you want to order lotus root, in my neck of the woods it is called 'lian cai'. Sometimes lian ou.

[Ruth]

Well, now that I know how it tastes, that's good advice. It's kind of fun trying new stuff. We got into a rut with our favorite restaurant on the little street by our flat. They deliver. Even though the food is really good, it gets boring after awhile. It's nice to be out experimenting again. Maybe it's the spring weather.

[Raoul Duke]

Ruth,
if the white of the egg looked like brown jelly, you definitely had the thousand-year kind.

They use lime (the alkaline calcium compound, not the citrus fruit) in making the things. It's also used in construction, agriculture, marking the lines on the grass of an American football field, and so on.

Here's the recipe. Just like Mama used to make before Dad left home.

Title: THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD EGGS
Categories: Cheese/eggs, Chinese
Yield: 12 servings

2 c Very strong black tea
1/3 c Salt
2 c Each ashes of pine wood,
Ashes of charcoal and ashes
From fireplace
1 c Lime*
12 Fresh duck eggs

These are often called thousand-year eggs, even
though the preserving process lasts only 100 days.
They may be purchased individually in Oriental markets.

Combine tea, salt, ashes and lime. Using about 1/2
cup per egg, thickly coat each egg completely with
this clay-like mixture. Line a large crock with
garden soil and carefully lay coated eggs on top.
Cover with more soil and place crock in a cool dark
place. Allow to cure for 100 days. To remove coating,
scrape eggs and rinse under running water to clean
thoroughly.
Crack lightly and remove shells. The white of the egg
will appear a grayish, translucent color and have a
gelatinous texture. The yolk, when sliced, will be a
grayish-green color.

To serve, cut into wedges and serve with:

Sweet pickled scallions or any sweet pickled
vegetable

Sauce of 2 tablespoons each vinegar, soy sauce and
rice wine and 1 tablespoon minced ginger root.

*Available in garden stores and nurseries.

The description of the whites turning grayish
isn't quite accurate from the ones I've seen. They're
more a dark blackish amber color-- quite attractive
actually.

From "The Regional Cooking of China" by Margret
Gin and Alfred E. Castle, 101 Productions, San
Francisco, 1975.

[Ruth]

Thank you, Chef Raoul.

But, I don't think I'll be making any anytime soon. Good information to know, though, just in case.

Who comes up with these ideas in the first place? Long, long ago, someone said, 'hey, lets mix a whole bunch of ashes together with this leftover tea and some of this stuff that will burn your skin if you touch it (don't get any in your eyes, little Wang). Now lets put it over some duck eggs and bury them for awhile.'

[Raoul Duke]

I think in China's bad old days a lot of food got hidden...either to keep it from being stolen, or because it was stolen. Beggar's Chicken is one example...

[Lotus Eater]

It amazes me how many foods were discovered to be edible after all types of machinations. I often wonder how many people died to figure out how to eat things that are poisonous one way and OK if you put them through a pile of different treatments.

[Mr Nobody]

I want to know how the japanese found out how to eat blowfish. My God that is so poisonous.

I can imagine:
"bring in a peasant" ok, eat this. Nope. ok, recipe 21,485. "bring in a peasant" etc.