Celebrate the Lunar New Year with this delicious turnip cake full of tradition

When you see the word cake, you probably don’t think of ingredients like daikon radish, bacon, and sausage. but this is what actually happens Law Bok GoChinese Turnip Cake.* Made from rice flour and grated daikon radish, turnip cake is a lunar New Year Prominent, especially in Hong Kong and southern areas of China. This is a very common dim sum dish, where it is usually pan-fried and served with scallions on top.

*Despite being made from daikon, a type of radish, lo bok go is often translated into English as “turnip cake”, although it is sometimes also called radish cake or daikon cake; Don’t get confused by the naming variations, they all refer to the same dish.

Every Lunar New Year, my mother would make batch after batch of turnip cakes. Piles of it, steamed in tinfoil pans and topped with cilantro, cilantro and sesame seeds, would be placed on our dining room table, to be given to friends and family. One thing I loved about her turnip cakes was that she wasn’t shy about adding a good amount of daikon to it: for every pound of rice flour, she usually added six or seven pounds of daikon! This higher proportion of radish makes for a more spicy-tasting cake, and I now prefer to make it that way.

Containing Chinese sausage, Chinese bacon and shiitake mushrooms, this steamed (and then, optionally, pan-fried) daikon radish-based snack is a classic on both Chinese New Year and dim sum tables year-round.

Apart from the ratio of rice flour and radish, one of the most important steps when making turnip cakes is to mix the two together well until a beautifully sticky mass is formed. Another important step is to make sure the daikon is fully cooked before adding the rice flour – even if the daikon is finely chopped, it still takes at least twenty minutes to fully cook, at which point It should look slightly translucent.

With those two points in mind, here’s how to make it: I start by soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in warm water until completely dry, then chop them and add them to dried shrimp, chopped Chinese sausage and Chinese fry with bacon (lap yukI finish by glazing the mushroom-sausage mixture with soy sauce and brown sugar, then I cook the grated daikon in the same pot (a larger pot or pan Will Work). When it’s ready, I add the mushroom-sausage mixture to the daikon base. Working in thirds, I mix in the rice flour until a sticky mass forms, thinning it with a little water if it becomes too difficult to stir.

I pour the mixture into two glass baking dishes, although you can also use disposable aluminum dishes, and then steam each until cooked through, which takes about half an hour. just be sure Steamer Large enough to hold baking dishes.

While you can eat the turnip cake straight from the steamer, it’s best after letting it rest for about 20 to 30 minutes. Before serving, I drizzle sesame oil over it and top with chopped green onions and coriander. A little hoisin and Sriracha on the side for dipping, and it’s all set. Although, to be honest, my favorite way to eat it is as leftovers the next day: to reheat it after a night or two in the fridge, I cut it up and fry it until it’s golden and crisp on both sides. I fry. Serve the cake with a bowl congeeAnd you’ll have my perfect Lunar New Year breakfast.

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