Steamed Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go)

 

I read a lovely article about Chinese festival cuisine. People buy flour in North China to make dumpling wrappers, glutinous rice in East China to make rice cakes, and radishes in South China to steam turnip cakes. However, turnip cake can be found as a breakfast at hawker stalls or as a snack at numerous dim sum restaurants in Malaysia. In Penang, Malaysia, there is a famous food truck known for its turnip cake. Many locals are waiting in line to buy breakfast there. Turnip cake that has been steam-cooked can be eaten while it is still hot or deep-fried till golden brown on both sides and served with chili sauce.

One of the traditional Cantonese delicacies for the New Year is turnip cake, which has its origins in Guangzhou, China. Turnip cake is now a snack at restaurants all over the world and does not need to be made for Chinese New Year.

Although traditional turnip cakes vary slightly from place to region, radish and rice flour are the two essential components. When making turnip cake in the old days, folks would typically grind rice pulp in a stone mill. But now is very convenient to use store-bought rice flour to prepare it.  It is frequently steamed along with Chinese sausages (Lap Cheong), dried shrimp, mushrooms, scallops, and other ingredients.

However, some people consider that turnip cake cannot be considered exquisite because the ingredients are quite ordinary. Even though the technique is uncomplicated. Making a delicious carrot cake, meanwhile, is not always simple if you do not grasp it properly. It will either be too soft or too hard or perhaps sticky to eat.  Delicious turnip cake has a tender consistency and a powerful radishes aroma. It is sweet from the radish, umami-flavored from the dried shrimp and Chinese sausage, and glutinous from the sticky rice flour. It tastes good whether it is fried or steamed.

IS TURNIP CAKE MADE OF TURNIP?

Let us talk about the turnip. Daikon, a species of winter radish used in Asian cooking, is used to make turnip cake rather than turnips. It also goes by the name of white radish. Daikon radish thus serves as the major component of the turnip cake. 

HOW TO LINE A BAKING PAN WITH ALUMINUM FOIL?

One of the finest ways to make sure food will come out of a pan, particularly when the food has sticky edges.

1. Tear a large enough piece of aluminium foil so that it will go up the sides and leave a sizable overhang that is large enough to grab. To remove the food from the pan, use the overhang as a handle.

2. Turn the baking pan upside-down on the counter. Press the foil over the outside of the pan with the shiny side facing up, gently smoothing, and folding it to fit the pan's corners and edges.

3. Lift the foil off the pan and flip it over. While taking special care to maintain the shape of the foil, carefully press the foil into the pan's interior, smoothing it into the corners and folds where batter might flow and get snagged.

Let us get all the ingredients to hand and the detailed instruction to make a delicious turnip cake.

INGREDIENTS

200g                     rice flour

200g                     corn starch 

1200g                   white radish

1000ml                 water

50g                        dried shrimp, soaked until soft, minced

50g                        ready diced salted radish (optional)

3 pcs                      dried shiitake mushrooms

1 pair                     Chinese sausage

1 tbsp                     salt

1 tbsp                     sugar

some                      cooking oil

 

 

METHODS

1. Rinse and soak dried shrimp and shitake mushrooms in adequate water, then squeeze dry and minced.

2. Rinse and soak the diced salted radish in enough water to dilute the saltiness for two to three minutes.

3. Diced the Chinese sausages.

4. Grated the radish, squeeze out excess water from grating the radish.

5. Combined all the flour and the water and stir the mixture well until smooth.

6. In a clean deep round-bottom cooking pot, cook the Chinese sausages until the fat renders, reserving some for later use as a topping. Dried shrimp, salted radish, and shitake mushrooms should all be sautéed together until fragrant with the addition of 1 tablespoon of oil to the pot. The grated radish will be cooked until soft after being added to the seasoning.  

7. Add the flour mixture to step (6) and whisk constantly while cooking it at medium-low heat until it thickens. The steaming process can be completed more quickly by thickening the radish batter.

8. To make the radish cake easier to remove, line the 10" x 10" square baking pan with aluminium foil. You may use a round cake pan, which you will need to coat with oil first. The radish batter should be poured into the baking pan, and the top should be leveled with a spatula or the back of a spoon. 30–40 minutes of high heat steam. The cake looks more transparent and has a little damp surface after steaming. It will soon get dry. Leave it in the baking pan to cool naturally.

9. After the cake has cooled completely, slice it into a rectangle and top it with the diced Chinese sausage which is set aside in step (6), diced chili, and chopped spring onion or colander leaves. If you prefer your radish cake to taste spicy, serve it with sambal (shrimp chilili paste) or any hot sauce. ENJOY!!

 

Hope you find this guide useful and enjoy these steamed turnip cakes to the fullest!!