The taste of the national flower !

The idea for this post "The taste of the national flower..." came to my mind just by chance when I saw a street vendor of fresh lotus seeds this afternoon on the way to Chinatown.

One or two years ago, there was a big argument between the members of National Assembly, what would be our National items? Finally, after a long debate, lotus (water lilies) was selected as one of our national symbols! Same as India and Egypt!

               Lotus seeds is a must ingredient for many finest delicacies

The lotus's beauty has been recognized for centuries in the history!
Every one of us surely remember a famous folklore (or proverb) when we were still on the high school bench.

  " Trong đầm gì đẹp bằng sen,
     Lá xanh, hoa trắng lại chen nhị vàng 
     Nhị vàng, hoa trắng, lá xanh
     gần bùn mà chẳng hôi tanh mùi bùn"
 (literally means 
     "What could be pretty as lotus in the lagoon, 
      Green leaves, white flowers with golden stamen
      Golden stamen, white flowers with green leaves 
      Growing in mire, but not foul of mire") (*) 

I'm curious about the food culture related to this symbolic flower!
Bad thing that I'm not a master chef, so I'm not able to suggest what kind of dish can be created with the lotus!
Good thing that I'm a pretty good observer!

Let's start from what I bought this afternoon on the street!

               Lotus seedpod on the street! 

Fresh lotus seed...what I can do with this?