Have you ever thought of lotus shoots as an ingredient for a salad? Wait, go back one step – don’t we Singaporeans usually use lotus roots, and not shoots, in our cooking?
Introducing Goi Ngo Sen, or Vietnamese Lotus Shoot Salad. This Southern Vietnamese dish is a mix of Lotus shoots, julienned cucumbers, carrots, laksa leaves and onions with a dressing much like that of Thai mango salad.
Honestly, it’s not the type of salad that we relate to. Our team knows salads as the leafy stuff with Italian or Caesar dressing you get at salad bars. But Jacinta, General Manager at Wrap & Roll Catering Singapore, welcomes us into the kitchen, saying today will change our minds. "Yes I know, locals are always intrigued by the salad, but also really afraid that it won't taste good." And so our lesson on this mysterious Lotus Shoot Salad begins.
They look like skinny and pale long beans, not the thick roots that we're used to.
Curiously enough, each shoot's cross section is complete with the same little eyelets, and looks like a miniature version of the root.
Chef grabs a bunch of lotus shoots which we prod and eye suspiciously. They look like skinny and pale long beans, not the thick roots we are used to. Curiously enough, each shoot’s cross section is complete with the same little eyelets, and looks like a miniature version of the root. Annie, a Vietnamese waitress at Wrap & Roll pops by, attracted by the small commotion we’ve made in the kitchen. "You’ve never seen this before?’ she chuckles. “In Vietnam, we like to use stems from the flowers instead of the roots. They are smaller and taste good raw."
Next, Chef slices each already thin shoot down the centre, exposing the tiny air pockets that run lengthwise along the shoot. He then playfully tosses in the julienned vegetables and boiled fresh prawns a la Salt Bae.
With such a large body of water, and the abundance of paddy fields, it’s no wonder lotus plants are in constant supply.
Wrap & Roll gets a fresh stock of lotus stems airflown from Vietnam every week.
Well-loved by the Vietnamese as their national flower, the Lotus flowers are grown in abundance in Vietnam. The locals harvest the plant regularly for its flowers, seeds and stems which they consider a staple in their pantries. “Yeah, when I go back to Vietnam, I have this a few times every week,” says Annie.
The Vietnamese civilisation pretty much sprung out of the Red River delta. With such a large body of water, and the abundance of paddy fields, it’s no wonder lotus plants are in constant supply. Wrap & Roll gets a fresh stock of lotus stems airflown from Vietnam every week. “Yes, the cost is higher. But how else can we ensure freshness?” Says Jacinta. No wonder our catering customers have been giving this dish high accolades.
Picking up his mixing bowl, Chef measures out portions of fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and adds a sprinkle of bird’s eye chili. Chef catches one of us eyeing the diabolically red bowlful of chili. “Not enough kick? I can make it so spicy you will cry!” We shrink back.
Once the sauce is mixed well, Chef ladles the tangy mixture onto the vegetables. The aroma of fish sauce is unmistakable. He then artfully tosses the salad in his mixing bowl. This is a step that we are familiar with. The salty sauce has the tendency to draw moisture from the shoots, leaving them weepy after sitting for too long. Knowing this, Catersmith always mixes the salad fresh on site during catering events; A little more work for a much better taste.
“Catering events are probably the fastest way for the most number of Singaporeans to try this dish.
One day, I hope that Singaporeans will know the name Goi Ngo Sen as well as they know Som Tum.”
Chef plates the colourful dish and surrounds the salad with little prawn crackers. One of us reaches out to take one, but Chef swats away his hand. “No, no! Put the salad on the cracker and eat it together. That’s the Vietnamese way."
When the dish is ready to eat, we dig in. The savoury-sweet-tangy flavours are gorgeous and the shoots are crunchy. Someone makes a prawn cracker and salad sandwich and bites down hard. “This stuff is fun to eat too!”
The Lotus Shoot Salad features as a choice on Wrap & Roll’s catering menu alongside more familiar salads like Green Mango Salad. We ask Jacinta why she decided to include it, running the risk of wasted stocks should no one select the dish. Without hesitation, she says, “Catering events are probably the fastest way for the most number of Singaporeans to try this dish. One day, I hope that Singaporeans will know the name Goi Ngo Sen as well as they know Som Tum.”
