Turnip Cake - 蘿蔔糕

As Chinese New Year is just around the corner (pssst... it's Feb 16 this year. Even though I'm Chinese, I still need to google it every year to find out when it is. So don't feel bad if you don't know.) I thought it's only fitting that I make something Chinese. Turnip cake is a Cantonese dim sum dish that is traditionally very popular to eat around Chinese New Year. Although nowadays, it's available year round at Cantonese dim sum restaurants.

According to my boyfriend who's Cantonese, since making turnip cake from scratch is somewhat of a hassle, many people would buy blocks of steamed and chilled turnip cakes from dim sum restaurant right before the New Year and finishing them off at home for New Year's Eve dinner with the families. There're a few ways to cook it. You can cut them to rectangular pieces and re-steam them, or fried the pieces on a pan with some oil til the edges are lightly browned and crispy, or my favorite way, cutting them into smaller cubes and stir fry them with XO sauce.

I'm not Cantonese, and I've actually never had turnip cakes before I met my boyfriend. The funny thing is that I had actually been to Cantonese dim sum restaurants many times then and it never occurred to me to order it. Turnip cake is kind of like Canada of the dim sum world; super inconspicuous next to its the flamboyant neighbors: Shu Mai, Har Gow (Shrimp dumplings), Bo lo baau (Pineapple bun). But once you get to know it, it has so much more to offer. It's packed with incredible umami flavor from dried shrimps, dried scallops, and dried mushrooms. It's savory goodness is then nicely balanced out by the subtle sweetness from the Chinese sausage. Finally because of the plainness of the radish, it not only created great contrast of flavors, but also made the individual flavor stand out even more, just like a blank canvas. 

This recipe is from my boyfriend's mom. She made it once at our place a couple years ago and it was super delicious! This year my friends decided to have a Chinese New Year potluck and I immediately thought about making the turnip cake again. 

Ingredients

• 2lbs daikon radishes
• 8oz rice flour
• 2 tbsp corn/potato/flour starch
• 3-5 dried shitake mushrooms
• 2 tbsp dried shrimps
• 5 dried large scallops (more if you have smaller scallops)
• 1 dried Chinese sausage (Lap cheong)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• (Optional) XO sauce

Instructions

To prep the ingredients:

1. Soak the dried mushrooms, shrimps and scallops in hot water for about 30 minutes, or until tender. Then cut them into 1/8 inch small cubes. Save the soaking liquid.
2. Cut the Chinese sausage to 1/8 inch small cubes.
3. Grate the radish with a box grater set inside a large bowl. Use the medium sized slot for grating. (The one bigger than where you'd normally grate lemon zest) You can also use a spiralizer with the smallest blade, which is what I used.
4. Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Add the sausage, mushrooms, shrimps, and scallops to the skillet and stir fry till fragrant. About 3 minutes. Set them aside.
5. Mix together rice flour and starch.

To making the batter:

1. Add the grated radishes, chicken stock, sugar, sesame oil, salt and pepper to a large pot. Stir well and cook covered on medium heat for about 20-30 minutes, until radish is very soft.
2. Turn off heat and add rice flour and starch mixture. Mix and pour in the soaking liquid a bit at a time until well combined and becomes a tacky glob.
3. Mix in the sausage, mushroom, shrimp and scallops mixture and mix well.

To cook the cake:

1. You can use any straight edge container to cook it. I used an 8-inch glass pie dish this time, but I've also used a glass pyrex storage bowl, or a tin foil pan before.
2. Grease the container with some oil. Then add the batter inside the pan. Make sure the top is flat and smooth.
3. Steam in a steamer for 1 hour. If you don't have a steamer, put a rack inside the wok and add water just below the rack. Then put the container on the rack. To test for doneness, inserting toothpick in the center should come out clean.

To eat the cake:

You can eat it right out of the steamer. But I personally prefer chilling the cake in the fridge overnight (covered with cling film on top) so it firms up nicely. Then you can prepare cut it up to 2-3 inches rectangles and fried it in a small non-stick pan with a little oil til the edges are slightly browned. Just like in dim sum restaurants. Or cut it into 1-2 inch cubes, and stir fry them in a non-stick pan with some XO sauce until all the cubes are heat through and crispy on the edge.