Chinese Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go)
Learn how to make Chinese turnip cake, a savoury steamed radish cake that symbolises prosperity and good fortune during Chinese New Year.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 6 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 800 g daikon radish (peeled weight)
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated (reserve the soaking liquid for later)
- 50 g Chinese sausage (about 1 sausage)
- 30 g dried shrimp
- 25 g dried scallops
- 2 shallots, finely diced
- 160 g rice flour
- 40 g tapioca flour
- 200 ml total liquid for the batter (see method for combining radish and soaking liquids)
- 1 cup water (to cook the radish)
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- Soy sauce
- Chilli oil
- XO sauce
Instructions
- 1
Prep the dried ingredients
- 2
Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms, dried scallops and dried shrimp in hot water for 30 minutes. Don’t throw away the soaking liquid because it is packed with umami and will make your turnip cake taste amazing.
- 3
Dice the Chinese sausage, shallots, mushrooms and shrimp. You can break the dried scallops into smaller pieces with your hands.
- 4
Stir-fry the filling
- 5
Heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a wok or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and stir-fry for about a minute until fragrant.
- 6
Add the Chinese sausage, mushrooms, shrimp and scallops. Stir-fry for 2–3 minutes until the oil from the sausage coats everything and the filling smells aromatic and fragrant. Set aside.
- 7
Prepare the radish
- 8
Peel your daikon radish. Slice half into 1cm thick strips and grate the other half. This gives the cake both chunky bites and soft pieces of radish.
- 9
Cook the radish in the same wok with 1 cup of water, covered, over medium heat for about 10 minutes until softened and slightly translucent.
- 10
Drain well using a sieve, pressing gently to remove excess water. Too much excess water will make the batter too thin. Save the radish liquid because it will be part of your batter later.
- 11
Make the batter
- 12
Combine the radish liquid with the saved soaking liquid from your dried seafood to reach 200ml total liquid.
- 13
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the rice flour and tapioca flour. Gradually add the 200ml liquid while whisking until smooth and lump-free.
- 14
Combine radish, filling and batter
- 15
Add the cooked radish and stir-fried fillings back into the wok. Pour in the batter gradually in 3 batches, mixing thoroughly each time.
- 16
Season with 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt and 2 tsp sesame oil. Mix well.
- 17
Steam the turnip cake
- 18
Grease a baking tin or dish. I used a 24cm tin, which gave my cake about 6cm thickness. Pour in the mixture and cover with foil.
- 19
Place the tin on a steaming rack inside a deep wok or pot with about 1.5 inches of hot water. Steam over high heat for 50–60 minutes. If your cake is thicker, add extra time.
- 20
Check doneness by inserting a chopstick or skewer into the centre. It should come out clean, and the cake should be evenly coloured with no white batter.
- 21
Tip: Keep an eye on the water level in the steamer every 20-30 minutes and top up if it is evaporating.
- 22
Cool and refrigerate
- 23
Let the cake cool completely at room temperature, then refrigerate overnight. Chilling helps the cake set firmly, making it much easier to slice and pan-fry.
- 24
Pan-fry and serve
- 25
Heat some oil in a pan over medium heat. Pan-fry the slices on both sides for 4–5 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
- 26
Serve with soy sauce, chilli oil or XO sauce for dipping.