Turnip Cakes (蘿蔔糕)

Turnip cakes are as classic a dim sum dish as they come. That being said, they've never been a go-to for my family. In my mind, that's all the more reason to give making them a try. I had been thinking about it for a while, but when I saw a huge pile of Chinese radishes at Better World Market (West Lafayette's newest Chinese store), I decided to go for it. Since this is a dish I'm mostly unfamiliar with, I closely (for me, at least) followed Henry Chan's recipe from Classic Deem Sum. Grandpa recently gave me this book, which was also responsible for the baozi of my childhood.

Overall, the turnip cakes turned out great. The Chinese radish has a unique flavor, and the sausage, shrimp, and mushrooms dot the cakes nicely. The cakes are quite dense, and I might experiment by lowering the amount of flour in the future. I will definitely be ordering them next time I go to dim sum.

This recipe features many interesting ingredients, a few of which are new to No Free Lunch. Dried black mushrooms and dried shrimp were both featured in my marathon Shanghai shaomai recipe. The big star here is, of course, the Chinese radish, also known as a daikon. It is a root vegetable that sort of resembles a huge, white carrot. Note that despite the name, this dish does not contain turnips. This recipe also uses rice flour, not to be confused with sweet/sticky/glutinous rice flour, which I used for tangyuan. 

The last new ingredient is one I've been wanting to discuss for a while: Chinese sausage. I have a huge weakness for these greasy little guys. Specifically, I'm using Cantonese lap cheong, which are dried, hard, lightly sweetened. You'll find them in the refrigerator section of most Chinese stores. I chop them up and cook them a bit like bacon - on low to medium heat so the chunks of fat render out. This is great for fried rice, as you can use the grease to cook the rest of the ingredients. I also like them with scrambled eggs.

Ingredients

• 4-6 dried black mushrooms, depending on size
• 1/3 cup dried shrimp
• Warm water
• 1 lb. Chinese radish/daikon (about 1 whole radish)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 Chinese sausage, minced
• 2 Tbs minced scallion (use only the white bottom part)
• 1 Tbs Amontillado sherry/Shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• Pinch of white pepper
• 2 Tbs vegetable oil (substituting for lard)
• 2 cups rice flour
• Vegetable oil to grease pan and fry the cakes

Instructions

Start soaking the mushrooms in warm water to reconstitute. The mushrooms need to soak about 30 minutes. Soak the shrimp in 1/4 cup warm water to reconstitute for at least 10 minutes. Reserve the shrimp water when done. While the dried ingredients soak, peel the radish and remove the ends. Grate the radish. I chopped it up into small pieces and used the grater attachment on the food processor.

Grated radish cooking

Combine the shredded radish with the chicken stock and the shrimp water in saucepan or wok. Cook, covered, on medium-high for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Minced mix-in ingredients

While the radish cooks, remove and discard the stems from the mushrooms and mince the caps. Mince the shrimp. If you haven't already, mince the sausage and scallions. Add the mushrooms, shrimp, sausage, scallions, wine, salt, sugar, pepper, and oil to the pan. Cover and cook 10 more minutes. 

The finished batter, before flour is added

Remove the mixture to a large bowl and let cool to room temperature. Once cooled, add the rice flour to the mixture and mix in thoroughly. Oil a square cake pan and pour the batter into an even layer. Use a wet spatula to smooth the top. Smoother is better, to get more even browning later on.

Ready to steam

For the next step, you will need to rig up a way to steam the cake. The way I did this was to put a wire steamer rack (available in various sizes at Chinese stores) in the wok and set the pan on top. A high-domed lid will likely be needed to fit everything inside. Bring water to boil in a wok with the rack in place, filling water to about an inch below where the pan will sit.

My steaming setup

Carefully place the pan on the rack and cover. Steam the cake for 50-60 minutes. Keep extra hot water on hand to refill the wok. This is easy to do with an electric tea kettle. Check the water level every 10 minutes and refill as needed. Check if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.

The finished cake

Remove the pan from the heat and let the cake cool to room temperature. Place a cutting board on top of the pan and carefully flip over, letting the cake drop out of the pan. Cut into pieces as desired. I did 12 rectangular pieces (3 x 4 pieces), which are roughly the size you see in restaurants. You can also make smaller pieces if you want to go for a finger food style.

Cut and ready to fry

Select the pieces you want to eat now, and refrigerate the rest in a sealed bag. In a nonstick pan, heat a little oil on medium-high. Sear the cakes on both sides until golden brown. This is quite fast, maybe a minute on each side and serve immediately.