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Lotus Root Soup 莲藕汤
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A pot of nutritious, slow simmered lotus root soup to bring out the richness and goodness of the ingredients.
若想阅读中文版本,请在网页的右边 “Google Translate” 点击选择 中文简体 (Chinese Simplified)或 繁体 (Chinese Traditional) 翻译。可能食谱读起来会怪怪的,所以如果有疑问都可以问哦!
What is Lotus Root?
Lotus root is a favorite ingredient in Chinese dishes. It can be used as an ingredient in soups, as well as stir-fries. Recently 麻辣香锅 (Mala stir fries) has been really popular in Singapore, and one of the ingredients we often see in it would be sliced lotus root.
Just a fun fact – I remember seeing slightly muddy lotus roots selling in the market when I was a kid. Thankfully these days we can find washed lotus root easily!
What Other Ingredients Are Used In This Soup?
Other than lotus root, peanuts and red dates are often used in this soup as well.
Some recipes also include chicken feet for a richer soup; dried cuttlefish for added flavor; black beans for additional boost of nutrition.
As this is a slow simmered soup, by adding in chicken feet, cooking over a longer period of time will make the soup “thicker” and richer with collagen drawn from the chicken feet. You can also make a thicker soup with big pork bones for soup – simply cook over longer time to draw out the goodness in the bones.
If you like the old school slow simmered Chinese soup taste, don’t skip adding dried cuttlefish and dried scallops! These ingredients add more umami flavor to the soup.
>> MORE CHINESE SOUP RECIPES:

This recipe serves 2 adults, or 1 adults 2 kids. So you can adjust the qty of the ingredients to your liking 🙂 This recipe also fits in Thermos 1.5L thermal pot.

Lotus Root Soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 240 minutes
- Total Time: 255 minutes
- Yield: 4 Adult Servings 1x
Description
A bowl of comforting nutritious soup, great for cold weather.
Ingredients
- 150–200 g pork ribs
- 200 g lotus root, cleaned and sliced
- 2 pc dried scallop (medium sized)
- 3 pcs red dates
- 40 g peanuts
- 3 tbsp ikan bilis
- 1.2L water
- 1 pc dried cuttlefish, optional
Instructions
- Soak peanuts in hot water for 30 mins to soften. Rinse and drain ikan bilis.
- Blanch pork ribs in a pot of boiling water (aside from the 1.2L water) for about 5 mins. Drain, rinse and set aside.
- Bring 1.2L water to a boil in a pot. Add in all ingredients. You can also add in dried cuttlefish if you like. Allow water to boil again. Reduce heat slightly to let it come to a simmering boil for about 2-3 hours. You may add salt to season the soup slightly.
- Serve warm with rice, and some dark soy sauce and cut chili.
Notes
– Pork Ribs: You can use pork ribs, prime ribs, or a combi of ribs and pork bones, or add in additional chicken carcass, or a few chicken feet. Blanch all the bones together in step 1.
– Other than simmering over the stove, you may also use a thermal pot to boil for 20-30 mins before moving to the outer pot for 4-5h. Should you keep the soup in the pot for a longer time, ensure that you reboil every 8h for food safety.
– You may also add in some salt for taste. Recommended to skip salt if you are serving to children.
- Category: Dinner, Soup
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: Chinese
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