When life gives you lotus root, make stir fry!

I have been looking for sweet potatoes since we have been here. Not the deep orange ones that are referred to as yams. I love the light fleshed sweet potatoes that have a milder flavor and firmer texture. The other day I was thrilled to find them being sold by a sidewalk vendor. We purchased four medium sized potatoes for 3,000 won, or $3.00. Not a bad price here in Korea.





As soon as I took them out of the sack I became doubtful that they really were sweet potatoes. I scrubbed the dirt off of one and became even more doubtful. So I cut the end off. If these were sweet potatoes they were the victims of some very creative worms. No! Not sweet potatoes.

I turned to my trusted Korean culture resource, "google". Did a quick search for Korean root vegetables and found out I had purchased lotus root, a popular crunchy vegetable similar to water chestnuts. They can be eaten raw or cooked. Then I googled recipes and found something I could use. So I scrubbed, pealed and sliced the lotus roots. Then I boiled them for 20 minutes. After I drained them I dropped them into hot sesame oil and cooked them another 10 minutes. Then I added a sauce made of brown sugar, soy sauce and ginger. After cooking that until the sauce was absorbed, I added them to a veggie stir fry.

It was actually very good, but I think if I ever again accidentally buy lotus root I might just try it raw!