Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go)
Turnip Cake: a Golden-Brown Dim Sum Classic
To make these great-tasting turnip cakes, you will need to fry the cakes in oil until both sides are golden-brown. This will keep the surfaces tender while at the same time bringing out the unique turnip flavoring. The smell of these delicious cakes alone is enough to leave you and your dinner guests drooling in anticipation!
Tip: Ensure that your frying pan is already very hot before placing the cakes on it to cook, to avoid leaving burnt pieces stuck to the bottom.
What is Turnip Cake?
In the Teochew region of Guangdong, turnips were traditionally called “Cai Tou,” so turnip cake naturally grew to be known as “Cai Tou Cake” as well. Turnip cake is a popular type of New Year’s cake in Teochew, and on New Year’s Day one can find them cooking in nearly every household. Turnip cakes have become a specialty snack food characteristic of Teochew, and they can be seen (and smelled!) from main streets to small alleys across the region.
Ingredients
- 0.45 pound (200 grams) Chinese turnips
- 0.7 ounce (20 grams) carrots
- 1 ½ ounces (40 grams) sausage
- 1 tablespoon (15 grams) dried shrimp
- 1 bunch dried shiitake mushroom
- 1 cup (140 grams) rice flour
- 2 teaspoons (10 grams) corn starch
Seasonings
- 2 teaspoons (9 grams) salt
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) ground pepper
- 2 teaspoons (10 grams) white sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- cooking oil as desired/needed
Cooking Directions
Preparations
- Skin and wash the turnips and carrots, peeling into thin slices. Soak the mushrooms in warm water for half an hour, then wash and remove the caps and slice into thin pieces. Wash the shrimp and allow to drip dry before cutting into fine pieces. Wash and cube the sausage.
- Heat a pot, and add cooking oil. Add in the sausage, shrimp, and mushroom pieces along with the strips of turnip and carrot, and stir-fry for a short period of time. Set aside the pot for later use.
How to make turnip cake batter
- Mix together the rice flour and corn starch, gradually pouring in 1 ½ cups (350 milliliters) of water while continuing to stir the mixture. Next, add in the white sugar, ground pepper, sesame oil and the remaining salt, mixing until a pasty consistency is achieved.
- Pour this mixture into a pot, cooking under low heat until it becomes a thick paste before adding in the previously fried meat and vegetables, creating a batter with a lumpy, pudding-like consistency.
Put it all together
- With a light layer of cooking oil on a steamed cake pan, begin pouring in the batter, using a scraper to evenly spread across the pan. Place the pan with well-spread batter into a food steamer.
- Add water into a steamer pot and heat to boil. Once boiling, add the water into the food steamer and steam the batter for approximately 20 minutes. Then remove and allow the cake to air-dry, cutting into small pieces when cooled.
Final touches
- Heat a pan, adding a small amount of cooking oil. After reaching nearly full heat, place the steamed turnip cakes on the pan and turn the heat down to medium, cooking until the bottoms of the cakes become slightly hardened. Turn the heat down to simmer and let the cakes fry until golden on both sides.