This one has a back story and tribute to a friend that passed away. If you just want to get cooking, the recipe is just below. If you want the story, it’s at the very bottom of this post.
If you can’t find lotus root you can use potatoes for this recipe, but if you do it takes a lot longer to cut out all the little holes in each slice. š Lotus root isn’t easy to stir fry. Like potatoes, they hold a lot of water, so they don’t like to cooperate in a pan. But they do add a nice crunch to a stir fry and that’s why it makes for a unique but quick weeknight meal. They also make great chips if you ever want to try them that way.
You can mix this recipe up however you like and it makes a great “clean out the fridge” meal. Pick a meat, add the lotus root, and throw in whatever vegetables you have available and you pretty much can’t go wrong. I usually go with baby bok choy, bell peppers, snow peas, and always a sprinkle of green onions!
Prep time, 20 minutes
Cook time, 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 lb pork or beef, sliced into thin strips
- 1 lotus root
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup sake
- 1 tbsp gochuchang
- 8 baby bok choy or Chinese spinach
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 green onions, chopped
- salt and pepper, to taste
RECIPE:
Soak the lotus root in a bowl of water with a tsp of vinegar for at least 10 minutes. Remove, dry off, and slice thinly.
Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the sliced pork.
In a wok or stir fry pan, fry the pork over high heat in a tbsp of vegetable oil for about 5 minutes or until just starting to cook through. Add the lotus root and continue to cook, stirring frequently for another 5 minutes. Reduce to medium, add the soy sauce, sake, and gochuchang and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes, covered. If it starts to stick add some more sake or water. Add bell pepper to the mixture and when just about cooked add the bok choy. Let the bok choy wilt slightly but do not overcook.
Top with green onions and serve!
BACKSTORY:
I was introduced to lotus root about 20 years ago when my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I were invited to eat at a Japanese friend’s house. His name was Fumihiko (Fred) Ebihara and he was notorious for knowing just enough English to create trouble. I once told him he was a pain in the ass and he responded with, “No, Bruce-san, I want to be pleasure in your ass!” That kind of trouble. Or the time he wanted to make his own beer and I told him to start by bleaching all his equipment. Imagine the surprise when we started making the beer and the pot bellowed suds like a freaky bubble bath! I asked him to show me his bleach, and he pointed to the laundry room stash and said, “I used this! Tide! With BREACH!”
One more…..Fred was stuck in a rut on an engineering project and I had an idea how to help. At first he scolded me for being too young and inexperienced but I mocked up my idea and we put it to the test. It worked and I was completely dumbfounded when Fred was so happy that he told me, “Bruce-san, you are my masturbation!” I told him I wasn’t sure how that phrase worked in Japanese but it didn’t translate well to English.
I could go on and on about Fred stories. He was a gold mine.
Anyway, back to the evening when my wife and i were invited to his family’s house for dinner. If he was a fledgling at English back then, I was the equivalent at cooking. They started with edamame. I had never seen it before and didn’t realize I was doing it wrong eating his expended hulls rather than the ones with the beans still in them! But his wife, Tomoko, made an amazing dish with lotus root that night that inspired this recipe. Now, I always think of Fred and his family when I cook this.
Sadly, my friend Fred Ebihara died last year of a heart attack and is survived by his wife Tomoko and two beautiful daughters, Kyoko and Momoko. I miss him and the humor he brought into my life. He could do a great Shania Twayne impression by the way……
