STUFFED LOTUS ROOT SOUP

While I was in Guangzhou, I tasted this fantastic soup-its Lotus roots which has been stuffed with mung beans and boiled with salted pork ribs. This is what the Cantonese typically called "lo foh tung" (slow simmered soup). The pork ribs has been seasoned with salt at least overnight before boiling them.  The soup is slightly saltish with the sweetness of the lotus root and the "powdery" flavour of the beans. This soup is good for the lowering body heat, stress and tiredness.

So last weekend, I boiled this soup for my daughters.  Sarah will be having her exams and Esther has been working late and were stressed over the sickness of the doggies at the pet shop lately. Luckily this has been controlled and everything is ok.  So hopefully this soup help both of them but I just like the flavour of this soup itself.

Peel the lotus root and cut a  small slice at the root  so that the holes are visible. Reserve the piece to be used as a "cap" later.   This definitely takes some time and a lot of your patience to stuff the pre-soaked mung beans into the tiny holes!

Push the mung beans down tightly and compact.

I use some toothpicks to secure back the "cap" on the lotus root.

Meanwhile,  put the salted pork ribs (which had been blanched) to boil with some red dates.
So the stuffed lotus root goes into the pot as well.  Bring back to a boil and then lower heat and let it simmer for around 3-4 hours or until the lotus root is tender.

After boiling for 3 hours remove the lotus root from the soup and let it cool.

 Remove the toothpicks and slice the lotus root when cooled.  This is the top - you can see the mung beans are scattered and loose.

As you cut deeper down, the mung beans have been boiled to a paste!

Clear delicious soup.

However, I noticed that the lotus root and the soup looks  darker than the one that I had in Guangzhou.
I was wondering whether  the soup was boiled separately and the stuffed lotus root could have been steamed and then added to the soup. Maybe should have added some gingko instead of the red dates.

The remaining mung beans were boiled with some dried wintermelon to make a sweet dessert.