Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go, 萝卜糕)

Soak the dried ingredients

1. Rinse dried shrimp and dried shiitake mushroom. Soak them in about 400ml water overnight or at least 3 hours.

Cook the daikon radish

1. Peel the radish then shred it with a hand grater or in a food processor.
2. Put the shredded radish into a wok/pot. Pour in the water which was used to soak the dried shrimp and mushroom (discard the solid bits at the bottom of the bowl). Bring it to a boil then leave to simmer for about 5 mins until the radish is wilted.
3. Place a sieve over a bowl, drain the radish. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Leave the liquid to cool for later use.

Fry the salty ingredients

1. While waiting for the radish to cook, chop dried shrimp, mushroom, shallots and Chinese sausage into tiny pieces.
2. Add oil to the wok/pot (cleaned & dried). Over medium heat, fry shallots until gold. Add Chinese sausage and fry until some fat is extracted. Stir in the dried shrimp and mushroom. Fry for a further minute.
3. Turn off the heat. Add the drained radish, oyster sauce and white pepper. Mix well.

Combine with the starchy liquid

1. Measure out 400ml of the liquid in which the radish was cooked. Top up with room temperature water if it’s not enough (Make sure the liquid isn’t hot any more). Add rice flour and corn starch. Mix until well dissolved.
2. Pour it into the radish mixture. Stir very well then turn on the heat to low. Stir constantly until the liquid solidifies. Remove from the heat.

Steam the cake

1. Grease a cake tin or a glass container with oil (I use a 20cm round cake tin). Put in the radish mixture. Level the surface with a spatula.
2. Place the tin/container into a steamer. Steam over medium-low heat for 50 mins. Remember to check the water level halfway through. Top up with hot water if necessary.
3. Take the cake out of the steamer. Leave to cool naturally inside the tin/container.

Fry & serve the cake

1. Carefully remove the cake out of the tin/container. Cut off the portion you’d like to serve on the day.
2. Slice it into 1-1.5cm thick pieces. Pan-fry over medium heat in a little oil until both sides turn golden.
3. Serve with sesame seeds, finely chopped scallions and sweet soy sauce. Add a dash of homemade chili oil if you’d like an extra kick.

Store the cake

1. You can keep the leftover cake in the fridge for up to three days.
2. It freezes well too. Cut it into slices. Lay flat on a tray lined with parchment paper. Keep in the freezer until fully frozen. Transfer to an airtight container/bag. Freeze for up to two months.
3. Fry the usual way (over low heat) without defrosting.