Jicama and Lotus Root unite over spices in this exotic, flavor-packed, sauteed salad – which can be enjoyed all year long.
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Blue Diamond Tastemakers, Blue Diamond Almonds supplied me with their Natural Almonds and their Rosemary & Black Pepper Almonds. As always, all opinions are my own.
“Old habits die hard”…
But sometimes – that can be a good thing!
When my daughter was a lot younger and an extremely picky eater, we would play this little game where once a week or so, I would have her pick a fruit or vegetable she hadn’t ever tried before from the grocery store.
At first, it was stuff like apricots and green bell peppers; but as she got older, she moved onto more exotic stuff like jicama and rambutan.
Sometimes, we would cook whatever we picked and sometimes we would just eat it straight up.
Sometimes, she loved what she picked and sometimes she didn’t – but most times, her little picky self would rather have had a plate of noodles and bananas as she was big into foods that were white and had no color in them.
But, in the last few years this game seemed to have been forgotten – till about 2 weekends ago.
We were at Super H Mart which is chock full of exotic fruits and veggies and a whole slew of items I have a hard time deciphering -(because apparently my second-language-interpreting skills are worse than my math skills)- when we happened on this funky shaped, weirdly jointed “lotus root”…
Realizing I had no clue what it was, my daughter shot me a look (I know this look well, it is the “time-you-try-your-own-medicine-look) and said it was about time I tried cooking something I had never cooked or eaten before!
But – fortunately – I love a challenge!
From what I learned on the inter-webs, I figured I would pair the crunchy lotus root with similarly crunchy jicama, and caramelized onions and turmeric and lemon and seeing we were keeping things crunchy, I would top it all off with some of the Rosemary and Black Pepper Almonds sent to me by Blue Diamond Almond Tastemakers.
Lotus root discolors quickly, so I submerged the cut slices in a bowl of cold water with a splash of vinegar. The cooked lotus root tasted a lot like water chestnuts, retaining their crunchy texture even after almost 15 minutes of cooking. As of today, we have had this sauteed salad a total of 3 times, and each time we licked our plates clean!
As always, this recipe was tasted and approved for publication by my picky teen daughter!
Ingredients
- 1 lotus root sliced and placed in a bowl of water with splash of vinegar
- 1 jicama cubed
- 1/2 red onion chopped
- 1/2 inch piece of ginger chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon parsley chopped fresh/or dried
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/4 cup water
- Olive oil
- Blue Diamond Rosemary & Black Pepper Almonds
Instructions
- Saute onions, garlic and ginger in olive oil, over low heat till onions caramelize (approx. 15-20 minutes)
- Add the sliced lotus root and jicama, paprika, turmeric, cumin, lemon juice, water and salt and pepper and mix well
- Sprinkle on parsley
- Let cook -partially covered- for 10-15 minutes on a low flame/low heat.
- Enjoy on a bed of greens – topped with Almonds.
Nutrition
Have you tried any new vegetables this week?
Maybe… I have convinced you to try something new this weekend?
Or, maybe… you can convince me to try an old vegetable in a new way?
Here are some other recipes with Blue Diamond Almonds:
Almond And Coconut Bark
Chocolate Dipped Blueberry Popsicles With An Almond Coating
I’m new to Jicama. How does it taste like? Great picture, I’m pinning them!
Thanks so very much Daniela!
Shashi, you did a fantastic job for your first time cooking with lotus root! This looks amazing and and absolutely something my family would love. We have lotus root all the time but only in soup, I would love to try it sauteed with all these flavors and paired with jicama. What a creative and awesome recipe – pinning 🙂
Thanks so much Kelly!
In soup you say? Now I am intrigued!
I love the crunch of jicama, but I’ve never tried lotus root. It looks so funky! Can’t wait to hunt some down and try it. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. 🙂
Thanks so much Christin – lotus loot has the same crunch as jicama – some people said it was “stringy” but am not sure if that was because of level of ripeness or because of how it was cooked but I didn’t experience any stringy-ness.
So I learned something new today and I love it.
Never have eaten or prepared lotus roots or jicama before but the salad with these veggies looks amazing and so I will give them a try.
Awww – thanks so much Daniela!
I so would love to know what you think when you do – I haven’t seen jicama or lotus root in a big name grocery store – only in some smaller South Asian ones.
I’ve never had jicama before but we are currently living in China and lotus root seems to be a staple…we all love it in our family!
Jicama is just as crunchy – but seems to be slightly sweeter and more dense.
Well in that case! Can’t wait to be here long enough to shop for “exotic” things;)
I’ve never heard of lotus root but it sounds good!! What a fun game – maybe we will try that next time we go to the Farmer’s Market!!!
Thanks Kim – yes, when my daughter was younger this was the only way I could get her to try different foods – if ya’ll try this I would so love to know what y’all bring home and try
I always learn about new foods from you! 🙂 I love jicima but have never even heard of lotus root before! This salad looks awesome though! Happy weekend!!
Aww – thanks Ashley – but this was my first go around with lotus root too – I’ve gotten it a couple times and other than this sauteed salad, I haven tried making anything else so far.
Hope you have a wonderful week!
What a fun challenge! This looks absolutely delicious.
Thanks so much Erin!
What a cute game! I love the sound of it and it would certainly help make your kids curious eaters 😀 I picked up a lotus root at the market the other week and mine looked like a loofah! 😛
Thanks so much Lorraine – btw, I loved your root vegetable chips 🙂
And now you’ve inspired me! Because I’ve never cooked with lotus root. I’ve heard it discolours quickly and that it’s very crunchy but now, I really must try this for myself. Your salad looks really pretty xx
Thanks so much Charlie! If you drop the slices in a bowl of water with vinegar or lemon, it tops the discoloration – but I added turmeric and that turned the white lotus root slices yellow! Yes, it is crunchy and remain so even when cooked – so if you are not a fan of crunchy stuff, you might wanna keep this in mind. Some people said that their lotus roots were “stringy” but am not sure why that is and if it depends on the lotus root or method of cooking – I clearly need to do more research 🙂
I so wish you could come and make me one of these salads, Shashi! It sounds like something you would order in a restaurant. So next time I spot a jicama and a lotus root, I know what to do with them!
Awww – thanks so much Helen – am beyond speechless at your incredibly kind compliment!
You’re a whole heck of a lot braver than I am, lady! While I’m nowhere near as picky as I used to be when I was younger (the only veggies I’d touch were corn, potatoes, and raw carrots), I still stick to the basics these days. I did try jicama once a long time ago, but I don’t know if I’ve ever even seen lotus root.
Hope your weekend is off to a great start!
The first time I tried jicama was when I used to work at an all-you-can-eat salad bar called “Lettuce Souprise You” (get the play on words?) We had raw julienned jicama on the salad bar and my manager would eat a whole bowl of it saying it was his “breakfast of champions”! This was my first time trying lotus root too – I have bout it a few more times since because I loved its crunchy texture!
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend too sweet lady – hope this weekend yall have sunshine there 🙂
The salad is exotic, I have never eaten lotus, but love jicama. Looks delicious!
Thanks so much Suzanne.
I didn’t even know lotus root could be eaten! lol I guess I need to get out more. 😉 I do love jicama though, and I have friends who haven’t heard of it so maybe I’m not doing toooooo bad. 😛 Anyway, this salad looks wonderful, and I bet the almonds added a wonderful flavor dimension. I’ve never had savory flavored almonds, but I think I should change that asap!
Lady – Iam thinking I am about 15 years older than you and I only just now tried lotus root – you have plenty of time my dear 🙂
And thank you so much – yup, this was my first time trying Blue Diamond Rosemary and Black Pepper Almonds and they were AH-MAYZING in this salad!
The only time I ever have had lotus root was in sambars. This looks to be a refreshing take on it 🙂
Thanks so much P – a lotus root sambar sounds so good!
lotus root is so pretty! i definitely would love to recreate this salad in my kitchen – if only it wasnt so hard to find lotus root and jicama in australia. love it!
Thanks so much Thalia – I got mine at an Asian supermarket – cannot seem to find either lotus root or jicama at any of the regular stores near me either.
I have a confession to make, I’m don’t really dig lotus root. I don’t dislike it either but there’s something in the texture that I find off-putting.
But I’m willing to give it a second chance since you sound so enthusiastic about it 🙂
I have heard some folks say that the lotus root they tasted was “stringy” thankfully the ones I tried were not – that would have thrown me off too – but I do love crunchy things – that’s why I was a huge fan of this version.
Thanks Mike!
Wow! This is awesome, Shashi! I totally remember those days in Atlanta. These was a similar market around the corner from our house…and we’d often pick up weird, uh I mean different, things to figure out what to make with them. Thanks for the memories…and this salad looks awesome, BTW! Nice work!
Thanks so much David – I think the best thing about these stores is that regular veggies/potatoes/are so so much cheaper than at the big name grocery stores. I walked out with 4 bags of produce for $16!!!
you see, this is why i love you. I adore jicama and lotus root but never know how to prepare them!
Awww – I love you too Lindsay and thank you my friend! 🙂
I don’t even know if I could find lotus root and jicama in London! It’s hard enough finding spaghetti squash – I have to travel an hour on the tube (I only buy it if I’m in the area, as I’m not travelling that far just for a vegetable haha)!
Oh my gosh – I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t find me some spaghetti squash close by!!! I love it as much as you love a burger 🙂
Though riding the tube for an hour would mean some serious people watching time…hmmmmm….
What a beautiful salad! I’ve only had lotus root one time… I need to look for it and see if I can find it at any of the local stores around here 🙂
Thanks so much Chris – I haven’t ever seen lotus root or jicama at the big name grocery stores – but have come across them at 2 little South Asian stores I check out from time to time.
I grew up eating lotus roots! My mom makes the best pork spareribs soup with lotus roots. Love the combo of jicama in this gorgeous salad. Excellent!
Thanks so much Angie – I bet yours mom’s soup was deeeelish!
This salad is GORG! I lurve me some jicima, but have never tried a lotus root. It’s pretty and I like to eat pretty things. Must find this!!! Pinned!
I hope that you have a great weekend friend! xoxo
Thanks so much my sweet friend! Lotus root is kinda hard to find – I found mine at an Asian store.
I hope your weekend is wonderful too!
xoxo!
Your photos are beautiful and this salad looks so ultra fresh! There are so many flavors here that I’m not used to that I’d love to try this!
Thanks so so much Pamela! I won a new camera and it sure helps with pictures – that and Pinch of Yum have an incredibly informative Food Photography book that has helped too (link on my sidebar).
Hope your weekend is wonderful