Rejoice Lunar New Yr With This Savory Turnip Cake Wealthy in Custom

If you see the phrase cake, you most likely do not consider components like daikon radish, bacon, and sausages. However that is precisely what goes into legislation bok gow, Chinese language turnip cake.* Made with rice flour and grated daikon radish, turnip cake is a Lunar New Yr staple, particularly in Hong Kong and the Southern areas of China. It is also a quite common dim sum dish, the place it is often served pan-fried and topped with scallions.

*Regardless of being made with daikon, a kind of radish, legislation bok gow is most frequently translated as “turnip cake” in English, although it is usually typically known as radish cake or daikon cake; do not let the naming variations confuse you, all of them check with the identical dish.

Each Lunar New Yr, my mother would make batch after batch of turnip cake. Stacks of it, steamed in tinfoil pans and topped with scallions, cilantro, and sesame seeds, could be loaded on our dinning room desk, to be given away to family and friends. One factor I beloved about her turnip cake was that she wasn’t shy about including a great quantity of daikon to it: for each pound of rice flour, she would often add six or seven kilos of daikon! Such a excessive proportion of radish creates a way more robustly flavored cake, and it is how I want to make mine now.

Studded with Chinese language sausage, Chinese language bacon, and shiitake mushrooms, this steamed (after which, optionally, pan-fried) daikon radish-based snack is a traditional at each the Chinese language New Yr, and in addition on dim sum tables year-round.

Along with the ratio of rice flour and radish, probably the most essential steps when making turnip cake is to totally incorporate the 2 collectively till a reasonably sticky mass has fashioned. One other essential step is ensuring that the daikon is cooked during earlier than including the rice flour—although the daikon is finely shredded, it nonetheless takes no less than twenty minutes for it to completely cook dinner, at which level it ought to look slightly clear.

Whereas protecting these two factors in thoughts, here is methods to make it: I begin by soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in sizzling water till totally rehydrated, then chop them up and sauté them with dried shrimp, diced Chinese language sausage, and Chinese language bacon (lap yuk). I end the mushroom-sausage combination by glazing it with soy sauce and brown sugar, then I cook dinner the grated daikon in the identical vessel (a big pot or wok will work). When it is prepared, I stir the mushroom-sausage combination into the daikon base. Working in thirds, I add the rice flour till a sticky mass has fashioned, thinning it with a tiny little bit of water provided that it turns into too tough to stir.

I scrape the combination into two glass baking dishes, although you need to use disposable aluminum ones as effectively, after which steam every one till cooked by, which takes about half an hour. Simply ensure your steamer is sufficiently big to carry the baking dishes.

Whilst you can eat turnip cake straight out of the steamer, it is best after it has rested for about 20 to half-hour. Earlier than serving, I drizzle it with sesame oil and prime it with chopped scallions and cilantro. A little bit hoisin and Sriracha on the aspect for dipping, and it is all set. To be sincere, although, my favourite method to eat it’s as leftovers the subsequent day: To reheat it after an evening or two within the fridge, I slice it and pan-fry it till it is golden and crispy on each side. Serve the cake with a bowl of congee, and you will have my ultimate Lunar New Yr breakfast.

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