🍽️ Lotus Root Pork Soup

Sticky lotus root with pork ribs, Guangxi home soup.

Lotus Root Pork Soup is a slow-simmered home soup along the Xijiang River basin around Guigang, central Guangxi. Guigang sits on the Xijiang, and its lotus roots are starchy, floury and sweet; after stewing, the holes of the lotus root fill with meaty broth and pull apart in strings when bitten. Pork ribs are blanched and simmered for hours with lotus root, candied dates and ginger, yielding a faintly reddish broth, sweet with lotus aroma, and tender ribs. Lingnan households believe a meal is not a meal without soup, and this soup is a common choice in central Guangxi for moistening dryness in autumn-winter and light nourishment in summer. The recipe is simple but depends entirely on the quality of the lotus root; the floury texture of local Guigang root is hard to replicate elsewhere. A bowl of this soup with rice is the warmest everyday taste on Guigang tables.