Lotus seeds: Why they’re good for you and how to eat them

HONG KONG — Heard of Plant Pops? They’re popped and flavoured lotus seeds, touted as a healthy alternative to popcorn, with less fat, more protein, and fewer calories. It’s probably why they’re a celebrity favourite, too, with actor and producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who prefers them as a snack, and Irish chef and food writer Darina Allen, who says they have an addictive crunchiness.

Indian-born Anushi Desai turned her childhood snack food into a business in the UK, and took home the best snacking innovation award from the World Food Innovation Awards in 2019.

Also known as fox nuts or gorgon nuts, lotus seeds — from the floating water lily plant native to eastern Asia — are widely used in India, China and Japan. As the lily’s seed is harvested in stagnant wetlands, no fertilisers or pesticides are needed, making them naturally organic. They’ve been cultivated in China for more than 3,000 years.

Packed with fibre, calcium and a host of other nutrients, lotus seeds, which have a neutral flavour, may be boiled or roasted to eat as a snack, or ground into flour for use in baking, puddings and candies, or mixed into dishes such as the sticky rice dumpling known as bajang, and in desserts, like the custardy Thai dish khanom mo kaeng. An episode of the new Netflix series Indian Matchmaking even features a nitrogen-injected version.

In India, lotus seeds, known as makhana, have long been a popular spiced and roasted snack. Ms Ruchi Shrivastava, food historian and owner of Mumbai-based food media company Greed Goddess, says if used in the right way, the seeds can offer many benefits, particularly in the fight against lifestyle diseases.

“It can have a calming effect on the body, which helps reduce stress and anxiety, resulting in sound sleep. It’s also gluten-free. It’s such a flexible product, and can be a boon to anyone following a plant-based diet.” A low-carb food, it is also suitable for the keto diet.

Ms Shrivastava calls the seeds “poor man’s cashews” because they are affordable and beneficial to health. “It’s low in sodium and high in potassium, so it reduces blood pressure and is good for diabetics, too. So, instead of adding almond or cashew paste in curries to make them rich, we always use a mix of lotus seeds and poppy seeds.

“As a kid, when I was unwell, my mother used to give me roasted makhana with a dash of ghee and a pinch of salt and black pepper — it would help restore the taste in my palate,” she says.

Lotus seed flour is mixed with whole wheat flour to make bread, for the benefit of the diabetics in her family, Ms Shrivastava says. “We made desserts using makhana flour, too, or we just popped makhana and mixed it into our puddings.”

In the book Ten Lectures on the Use of Medicinals from the Personal Experience of Jiao Shu-de, a traditional Chinese medical (TCM) practitioner describes lotus seeds as “sweet and astringent in flavour and neutral in nature” and says they nourish the heart, fortify the spleen, supplement the kidney, and work as an astringent.

In TCM, an astringent is a substance that is seen as able to prevent the leakage of needed fluids and prevent the loss of vital energy. Astringents also work as a diuretic, to promote secretion of unwanted or excess fluids.

China’s Ministry of Health approved lotus seeds’ use as both food and medicine. A 2016 study by Zhu et al, published in Frontiers in Plant Science, highlights the benefits to be derived from lotus seeds. Previous studies have shown that lotus seeds are rich in flavonoids and alkaloids.

Flavonoids are lauded for their potential in preventing chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and various types of cancers. Lotus seed alkaloids have been found to have properties that relieve depression, help manage irregular heartbeat and relieve excess fluid in the lungs.

Lotus seeds have also been described in many Ayurvedic texts, including the ancient Charaka Samhita, as being known to improve vigour and immunity.

Ayurveda is Indian traditional medicine. According to Ayurvedic practitioner Meera Praveen Rao in Bangalore, India, lotus seeds have anti-inflammatory and anti-ageing properties.

“Lotus seeds pacify the bio energies in the body: Pitta, or what we call the fire element, and Kapha (the water element). They are used to treat symptoms caused by excessive heat, like bleeding disorders, increased thirst, burning sensation in the body, boils, dizziness, and to improve blood cell count.”

Ms Rao advises taking lotus seed tea for stomach disorders, such as acidity and heartburn.

THREE WAYS TO USE LOTUS SEEDS

1. Roasted lotus seeds

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 cups lotus seeds

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Method:

1. Heat the coconut oil in a wide pan.

2. Add the lotus seeds and fry on a low flame for four to five minutes.

3. Add the salt and ground pepper and toss well. Serve warm.

2. Lotus seed tea

4 cups water

1 cup lotus seeds

Method:

1. Pour the water into a big pan, and bring to a boil.

2. Add the lotus seeds and turn off the heat.

3. Let sit for two hours, then strain the seeds out.

4. Add a sweetener such as jaggery powder or coconut sugar if you prefer it sweet, and drink in small doses, to relieve acidity.

3. Lotus seed and vegetable stir fry

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 cup lotus seeds

2 teaspoons coconut oil

1 carrot, sliced thin and long

1 red bell pepper, sliced thin and long

1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin and long

1 green bell pepper, sliced thin and long

1 zucchini, sliced thin and long

10 to 12 green beans, sliced thin and long

Salt according to taste

1 teaspoon black pepper powder

1 teaspoon red chilli flakes (optional)

1 teaspoon brown sugar (optional)

½ cup chopped basil

1 medium lemon, juiced

Method:

1. In a large wok, cook the lotus seeds in a tablespoon of coconut oil, then transfer to a plate and set aside.

2. Heat remaining oil in the same pan, add all the vegetables, stir fry on a medium flame for about six to seven minutes (vegetables should remain crisp).

3. Add roasted lotus seeds and seasonings and mix well. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST