Description: Easy to prepare. This can be served as a side dish or canapé. This can be eaten hot or cold.
Serves: 2
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• Lotus Roots –  sliced 4-5mm width, 100g
• Emmental cheese slices – tear into the size of lotus roots, 2 slices or 40g

Method

1. Remove the skin of the Lotus roots and soak in vinegar water for 5 to 10 minutes (1 teaspoon of vinegar for 200ml water). Alternatively, you may just use plain water.
2. Preheat the oven to 250C.
3. In a non-stick baking tray, place lotus roots and grill for 10 minutes.
4. Flip them over, and add cheese on top. Grill for another 10 – 12 minutes.

To serve: Ground black pepper according to personal taste

Nutritional Values Per Serving

Kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs	Fibre	Sugars	Salt	Saturated Fat	Vitamin C	Calcium	Phosphorus
119.6	7.3g	6.5g	8.7g	2.5g	0.1g	0.4g	3.8g	22.0mg	224.7mg	171mg
6.0%	14.5%	9.3%	3.3%	8.2%	0.1%	6.8%	19.0%	55.0%	32.1%	31.1%

Nutritional Tips

I personally think lotus root is an amazing vegetable. It makes me so full after eating. Compared to other low-calorie vegetables such as courgette or celery, it has more calories, but as it makes me feel really full for the amount I eat, it prevents me from snacking or eating more food during the meal.

Satiety is a key to control our appetite. Fibre makes us feel full. A study shows that fibre may play an important role. The study indicates that the same content of protein but with a higher fibre meal (mushroom sandwich vs minced meat sandwich) makes participants feel fuller for longer hours. It is considered due to a larger volume of mushroom sandwiches compared to beef mince (https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/eating-mushrooms-breakfast-may-help-you-feel-fuller/).

Cooking is important because a lot of foods have better appearance, flavour, texture and digestibility when cooked. However, nutrient losses in cooking may also happen due to the method or the time of cooking for instance.

Vitamin C leaches into water during boiling compared to steaming or microwaving. If you cook vegetables, I would suggest minimising contact with water. If you boil, you may use the remaining water for soup to maximise the nutrient intake. Therefore eating raw ingredients (if edible) is probably the best way to take Vitamin C without loss due to cooking. You may try cooking using a different method as you also need to enjoy eating (especially in winter we would like to eat warm heated food instead of cold salad). Some foods such as potatoes are better to be cooked because solanine causes diarrhoea, nausea, cramping and in the worst case organ failure. So forget about vitamin C intake from potatoes without cooking but look at the good side of potatoes: potatoes are a good source of energy (carbohydrate) and if you eat the skin, you can increase your fibre intake.