Turnip cake
Lo bak go is the savory steamed radish cake found on nearly every dim sum cart and at Cantonese Lunar New Year feasts. Shredded daikon radish is cooked until soft, mixed with rice flour, Chinese sausage, dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms, then steamed into a soft, smooth block. To serve, the cake is sliced and pan-fried until golden and crisp outside, while the inside stays sweet, soft and melt-in-your-mouth tender.
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 15 min
- Rising or chilling
- 4 hr
- Total time
- 5 hr 55 min
- Method
- Steamed
Ingredients
For the savory filling
For the radish and rice flour batter
For pan-frying to serve
Instructions
Step 1
Soak 15 g dried shiitake mushrooms and 25 g dried shrimp in warm water for about thirty minutes, squeeze them dry, then finely chop them along with 80 g Chinese sausage and 30 g shallots. While you wait, peel 1,000 g daikon radish and shred it coarsely. Soaked dried ingredients turn tender and release all their aroma when fried. This step is done when the mushrooms are fully soft, the dried shrimp break easily and the radish is shredded.
Step 2
Heat 15 g vegetable oil over medium heat, add the Chinese sausage and stir-fry until it renders its fat, then add the shallots, mushrooms and dried shrimp, stir-fry a few minutes more and scoop everything onto a plate. Frying them separately brings out each ingredient's aroma and keeps them pleasantly chewy. The mixture is ready when the shallots are pale golden, the sausage is slightly crisp at the edges and the whole pan smells wonderful.
Step 3
Put the shredded radish in a deep skillet over medium heat and stir it often for about ten minutes so it releases its own water and softens. Precooking makes the radish translucent and less pungent, and the liquid it releases is used to mix the batter. The radish is ready when it's translucent and limp and there's a layer of sweet liquid in the bottom of the pan.
Step 4
Whisk 300 g rice flour and 30 g wheat starch with 250 g water until smooth, season with 10 g salt, 10 g granulated sugar and to taste ground black pepper, then pour it into the pan of radish over low heat along with the savory filling and stir constantly. Partly cooking the batter on the stove keeps it from settling to the bottom while steaming, so the cake is even throughout. The mixture is ready when it thickens into a dense, sticky paste that holds the mark of a spoon for a few seconds.
Step 5
Grease a 20 cm square pan with oil, pour in the mixture, smooth the top with a wet spoon and steam over high heat for about fifty to sixty minutes, topping up the steamer with boiling water when it runs low. Steaming long enough cooks the rice flour until translucent and makes the cake firm enough to slice. The cake is done when the top is glossy and slightly translucent and a chopstick inserted in the center comes out without raw batter.
Step 6
Let the cake cool completely at room temperature, cover the top with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight. A hot cake is very soft and mushy, and only firms up enough to slice neatly once chilled. It's ready when it feels firm to the touch and a knife leaves a flat, clean cut.
Step 7
Turn the cake out onto a cutting board, cut it into slices about 1.5 cm thick, heat to taste vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat and fry the slices for about three to four minutes per side without moving them, then sprinkle with 10 g scallions before serving. Leaving the slices undisturbed gives the outside time to form a crisp crust. They're ready when both sides are golden brown and crisp, the inside is hot and soft and the slices lift easily without sticking.
Equipment
- Steamer
- Square pan
- Deep skillet
- Nonstick skillet
- Spatula
- Whisk
- Mixing bowl
- Kitchen scale
- Plastic wrap
- Refrigerator
Tips
- Choose firm daikon radishes that feel heavy for their size with smooth skin, because spongy ones have less water and taste bitter.
- Serve the cake with chili sauce or thinned hoisin sauce for dipping, the way it's usually eaten at dim sum restaurants.
- If you don't have Chinese sausage, you can use the same weight of bacon or ham instead.
Storage
Wrapped tightly, the whole cake keeps in the fridge for five days. You can also slice it ahead, separate the slices with parchment paper and freeze them for up to a month; to serve, pan-fry them straight from the freezer over slightly lower heat.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The cake is mushy and crumbles when sliced.
- The cake wasn't chilled long enough or the mixture had too much water. Leave the cake in the fridge overnight, and next time cook the mixture thicker before steaming.
- The slices stick to the pan while frying.
- The pan wasn't hot enough or you flipped the slices too soon. Wait until the oil is hot before adding the slices, and only flip them once the underside releases from the pan on its own.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
