Soak the peanuts for at least 30 minutes, or for up to 12 hours.
Add the soaked peanuts, lotus root, and salt into a large pot and fill with water, making sure all the ingredients are submerged. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cover and let it cook for 4-5 hours, until the peanuts are all soft and mushy. (Alternatively, you can use a pressure cooker, in which case you’ll only need to cook it for roughly 45 minutes.)
Now, remove the lotus root from the soup. Let it cool until cold enough to handle and slice them width-wise into roughly 1cm thick slices. Then plop the sliced pieces back into the soup.
Add in the coconut water and red dates to the soup, and bring it back to boil, then simmer for another 15 minutes.