Traditional New Year Candied Lotus Seeds

Take 50 grams of dried skinless lotus seeds and rinse them twice with water.

Place the rinsed lotus seeds into a pot, add enough water to cover the surface, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to medium-low heat and simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let steep on the hot stove for 15 minutes.

Scoop out the boiled lotus seeds and soak in water, use a thin toothpick to poke out the bitter core from the back of each seed, place them into a bowl of water, and finish all.

Place the cored lotus seeds into a colander and rinse thoroughly with water several times.

Add 70 grams of sugar, 150 ml of water, and a pinch of salt into the pot, turn on the heat and boil until the sugar dissolves completely.

Pour the rinsed cored lotus seeds into the boiling syrup, add 1/3 teaspoon of vanilla extract for flavor, mix well, cover with a lid, simmer on medium-low heat for 18 minutes once boiling, then turn off the heat and let steep overnight.

The next day, bring the overnight soaked lotus seeds and syrup to a boil on high heat, then switch to medium-low heat and simmer for 15 to 18 minutes until the lotus seeds show slight cracks on the surface while staying whole, then turn off the heat.

After turning off the heat, use a strainer to scoop out the lotus seeds one by one and arrange them neatly on a baking tray lined with parchment paper to dry the surface syrup.

Prepare half a bowl of icing sugar, use chopsticks to pick up a lotus seed and roll it in the icing sugar to coat, gently shake off excess sugar, and place back on the parchment paper.

After resting for 30 minutes, repeat the coating process for a second layer of icing sugar. If the parchment paper is too wet, replace it with a new one.

Air-dry the sugar-coated lotus seeds thoroughly until completely dry before serving or storing.