Lotus Leaf Rice

• ‘Ten miles of lotus ponds by the temple
• Where early morning maidens flock, busy at picking
• Not lotus flowers they pick but the leaves
• Rice wrapped in lotus leaf more fragrant than the flower’

This Cantonese ditty in praise of this celebrated dish explains why lotus leaves are used to wrap rice. In Canton, where fresh leaves are used in spring and summer, cooked rice – made the more tasty wi