Lotus Seed Paste

Lotus seed paste is a sweet and smooth filling paste made from dried lotus seeds. It is usually served as fillings for mooncakes and steamed buns.

The lotus root plant

Lotus, a member of the Nelumbonaceae family, is a perennial aquatic plant that is native to Asia. The Louts plant is known for its beautiful flowers and large, round leaves that float on the surface of the water, and planted many for its root- lotus root. The lotus plant is also revered in many Asian cultures for its spiritual and symbolic significance.

What’s Lotus seed paste

Lotus seed paste is a sweet paste dessert filling made with lout reeds,  maltose, sugar, and a very small pinch of salt.

Lotus seeds are harvested from the lotus flower after the petals have fallen off and the seed pod has matured. The seeds are then dried and processed, and they can be eaten raw or cooked. Fresh lotus seeds are only available in the harvested season. In most cases, you can only find dried louts seed.

Benefits Facts of lotus seed

In traditional Chinese medicine, lotus seeds are believed to have a number of health benefits because of their “cool” attributes, including improving digestion, promoting relaxation, and enhancing the immune system.

How to use lotus seed paste in cooking

Lotus seed paste is a popular ingredient in many Chinese and East Asian desserts, especially during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Recently, my arm is facing big challenges as I made lots of fillings including red bean paste, mung bean paste, black sesame paste, and this lotus seed paste for the coming mid-autumn day (also known as Chinese Mooncake Day). There is lots of stir-frying work during the process. In most cases, we are making louts seed paste for mooncakes. Here are a few ways to use lotus seed paste

1. Mooncakes: Lotus seed paste is the traditional filling for mooncakes, a pastry that is often eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes are typically made with a sweet lotus seed paste filling that is encased in a thin pastry crust.
2. Sweet buns: Lotus seed paste can be used as a filling for sweet buns, such as the popular Chinese snack, baozi. The paste can be steamed inside the bun or baked into the dough for a sweet and flavorful filling.
3. Pastries: Lotus seed paste can be used as a filling for a variety of pastries, including turnovers, puff pastries, sweet rolls and even wife’s cake.

Ingredients

• 200g dried lotus seeds (without skin)
• water or as needed
• 80g caster sugar
• 90g vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons of maltose, can be replaced by sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

1. Pre-soak the dried lotus seeds for 6-8 hours and remove the cores if there are any.
2. Transfer the soaked lotus seeds to a stewing pot, add water to cover, and stew for around 1 hour until really soft. Or place in the high-pressure cooker and cook a rice procedure.
3. Transfer to a blender, and add around 1/3 cup of water if it is too dry. Blend until really smooth.
4. Transfer the mixture to a non-stick pan; add vegetable oil in three batches. Each time after adding the oil, stir the paste until all oil is well absorbed.
5. Stir in salt, sugar, and maltose. Continue stir until the water is almost evaporated and the mixture can form a sticky paste texture.
6. Transfer out and cool down. If you plan to use it later, remember to cover with plastic wrapper to prevent drying out.

If you plan to use it for mooncakes, remember to fry the paste until very dry.  Following is my batch for the mooncakes of this year.

Lotus Seed Paste

Chinese style lotus seed paste for steamed buns or mooncakes

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: sauce

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: Lotus Seed, Paste

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Calories: 368kcal

Author: Elaine

Ingredients

• 200 g dried lotus seeds ,without skin
• water as needed
• 80 g caster sugar
• 90 g vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons of maltose
• 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

• Pre-soak the dried lotus seeds for 6-8 hours and remove the cores if there is any.
• Transfer the soaked lotus seeds to a stewing pot, add water to cover and stew for around 1 to 2 hours until soft. Or place in high pressure cooker and cook a rice procedure.
• Transfer to blender and blend with 1/3 cup of water until really smooth. (Do not add too much water in this step, otherwise you will need quite long stir frying time in next step.)
• Transfer the mixture to a non-sticky pan; add vegetable oil by three batches. Each time after adding the oil, stir the paste until all oil is well absorbed.
• Stir in salt, sugar and maltose. Continue stir until the water is almost evaporated and the mixture can form a sticky paste texture.
• Transfer out and cool down. If you plan to use it later, remember to cover with plastic wrapper to prevent drying out.

Video

Notes

Prepare time do not include the time for soaking the dried lotus seeds.

Nutrition

Serving: 100g | Calories: 368kcal | Carbohydrates: 45.2g | Protein: 6.7g | Fat: 18.9g | Saturated Fat: 3.7g | Sodium: 236mg | Fiber: 0.8g | Sugar: 16g | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 1.6mg