Lotus root (renkon, 蓮根) are a vegetable that is hard to forget. The first time one comes across one it is fascinating to see the natural holes in the vegetable. It seems like a work of art at first.
Lotus root start to come into the market in the fall, in September and October, and continue until about January. It has a lovely dense texture and can become a bit slippery when it is cooked.
It is lovely as kinpira, sliced thin and stir-fried in a sweet soy sauce and then accented with some red chili (tōgarashi, 一味唐辛子) or seven spice (shichimi, 七味). It can be cut into thick slices, stuffed with ground meat and fried. Grating lotus root and mixing it with potato starch (katakuriko, 片栗粉) makes a chewy mochi when fried.
It is found in regional food as a local dish from Kumamoto called karashi renkon, the wholes are stuffed with Japanese karashi mustard.
At Izakaya Sakamoto we love frying it into chips. The earthy chips are great on their own or add a nice depth as a topping to salads. With a Benriner mandoline, thinly slice the lotus root. Set it on a bamboo plate or on newspapers and let it air dry in a sunny spot for 30 to 60 minutes. This extra step makes it much easier when cooking in oil. Deep-fry until it turns a golden brown and season immediately with salt.
On a side note, we were hoping to get our cooking school up and running last year, but have been so busy with our Food Sake Tokyo tours that we have not made much progress. We do currently offer cooking classes, but only to those who have kitchens in Tokyo. We will start posting recipes on this blog and will keep you updated on when our cooking classes begin.
Food Sake Tokyo 
I love renkon! 🙂
Oishii desu ne. Yes, renkon is delicious!
Happy new year, Yukari! I’m delighted to read about Japanese ways of using lotus root, which was a big part of my childhood. My grandmother used to make a hearty soup by boiling lotus root, peanuts, pork ribs and dried squid. Also, it created instant designs for primary school vegetable-stamping art lessons (saved me from carving designs on a halved potato). Looking forward to hearing more about the progress of the cooking school.
Hopefully we can get the cooking school up and running. So busy with tours, no time to move forward on the school.
Yes, renkon are perfect for art projects!
Best wishes for the new year.
Renkon is one of those vegetables I dream of when I come back to Switzerland… I love it and wish it was sold fresh here. In December I brought back two beautiful plates with renkon pattern… It’s also so decorative but in the elegant, not kitsch, way!
Happy New Year, Yukarisan! I must thank you once more for your recommendations which are now fantastic memories from my November/December trip to Tokyo: I have discovered thanks to you bukkake soba at Matsugen in Ebisu (ok, maybe not perfect for this season, but it wasn’t very cold that day… and I was so curious…I’ll certainly come back!) and I went once more to Bettako! Thank you once more!
Arigato, for the kind words. Best wishes for the new year.
Hi, can you tell me approx the slice of the renkon, I saw in different blogs sometimes 1,3 mm or 3mm, or 6mm.
Thank you
You’ll have to do some test frying to see what works for you and your preferences. As long as all of the pieces are consistent. Good luck! Sorry for the late reply. We’ve been traveling for the last month.