Nadur — Lotus Stem

3 min readOct 11, 2020

Where there are lakes, there would be lotus, and lotus eaters! On a serious note, the plant of lotus is very useful to man, as all its parts can be consumed as fruit or vegetable.

Lotus stem or roots are widely used in the Indian, Chinese and Japanese cuisine. And in India, it’s the Kashmiris that predominantly eat it. I believe that it figures in the Sindhi kitchen also.

In Kashmir, Nadur — lotus stem, is sold by the bundle called Nadir Gyed and is identified by the particular lake they have been harvested from. Hence, some become Nadir(pl.) more premium than the other based on the origin. The ones that come from the Dal Lake are supposedly the best.

Kashmiris eat the Nadur in a hundred ways. We pair it with different vegetables and meats to create a different fusion delicacy each time. So, we have them as meat curries, sautéed greens, simply fried or as fritters! Depending on what you plan to cook, you slice them or slice and dice them or pound them. Even when slicing, you could either do lateral or slanting cuts to see a pretty circular pattern inside or vertical ones to see long grooves. Whichever way be it, they need to be cleaned well inside.