First of all: Happy Chinese New Year! :)

Brrr! It seems as though winter is lasting forever! I have the perfect recipe to warm up with before or after a great dinner. With its use of classic Asian ingredients and easy cooking process, Lotus Root Soup is the perfect addition to a meal. I know its a staple on my kitchen table. What I love about this recipe is that you can make a large batch to keep the extra for another day!

Easy Lotus Root Soup involves just a few ingredients and a couple of hours in which you do not even have to mind the brew. Once you get all the ingredients together, this recipe is super simple to make. So let's get started!

Entry for the Make-It-to-Learn Contest

What did I make?

In my exploration of the fusion between eastern and western cultures, I decidedly to make and share this classic Asian recipe, Lotus Root Soup. While it may seem different from western broths, the idea is the same and so is its nutritional value. The ingredients and equipment I used will be explained further in this Instructable.

How did I make it?

In case you didn't know, I am actually still a high school student (17 years and counting). This is actually one of the many recipes that I am making to explore the fusion between eastern and western cultures which was my inspiration for this project. Through trial and error, the recipe worked out as planned and hoped for.

Where did I make it?

I made this in my very own kitchen which shows that making traditional Asian cuisine is possible with only one valid small Asian supermarket nearby!

What did I learn?

While this seems an inherently an Asian recipe, in today's world, I feel that it is important to take in everything with a global perspective, even food. I learned much about my own background and would now like to share it with all of you. While many people have explored Asian food through the typical "sesame chicken and fried rice" passage, I encourage everyone to explore a little bit deeper into the culture and discover the great food, among other things, that it has to offer.

Step 1: Ingredients

For this delicious recipe, you'll need:

250g Lotus roots: you can either buy the fresh or the dried version for this recipe (pictured in this tutorial is the dried version)
500g Lean pork
5 Shiitake mushrooms (medium sized)
5 Dried Oysters
5 Ginger slices
4 cups of water

These ingredients may seem out of the ordinary for most, but they are actually pretty easy to find. Most, if not all, of these items can be found in your local Asian grocery store or even a specialty grocery chain market. If you live in a larger city where there are Chinese herbal medicine stores, I know that the dried oysters and shiitake mushrooms can be found. Some of these items can even be ordered online.

If you need any suggestions for finding some of these ingredients, please leave a comment below! :)

Step 2: Minimal Prep Work

Add all of the ingredients into a slow cooker. Then add four cups of water.

If you do not have a slow cooker, you can use a glass pot. Do not use a steel pot when making this recipe. On the stove top, boil the soup for five minutes. Then reduce the heat to medium.

Step 3: Boil and Finish!

Cook the soup in the slow cooker for 3 hours. You can periodically check on it, but it is not necessary. No mess, no fuss!

Lotus Root Soup is a simple recipe that allows you to reward your taste buds with little fuss. Even though it takes three hours for the soup to brew, the recipe does not need to be attended, so it's very easy to make. Although some say that the shiitake mushrooms and lotus root are a acquired taste, I think it is delicious!

Try out this recipe at your next family dinner and let me know how it goes.

Happy cooking!