It's one of my favorite times of the year—preparing for Lunar New Year! A go-to dish for LNY dinner is turnip cake, which mainly consists of shredded radish and rice flour. Other common ingredients is cured ham or sausage and dried shrimp. So, the end result is a bouncy and flavorful "cake."
But, it's not just for Lunar New Year! I love to eat it all-year-round, especially as dim sum. And while you could just steam it and eat it as is, the best way (in my opinion) is to pan-fry the slices of turnip cake. Then, the crunchy exterior contrasts nicely with the soft interior. You might also want to try dipping the fried slices in chili oil or hoisin sauce (or both)!
This can be a time-consuming process, so I recommend making this early and refrigerating leftovers. That way, whenever you need some turnip cake, you can just quickly pan-fry them without any hassle.
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
750 g (26 oz) daikon radish, grated
340 g (1 1/2 cups) water + more, for steaming
1 tbsp vegetable oil + more, for pan-frying
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated and diced
50 g (1.8 oz) Chinese sausage, diced
10 g (2 tbsp) dried shrimp, diced
1 scallion, sliced
150 g (1 cup) rice flour
20 g (3 tbsp) cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/3 tsp ground white pepper
Instructions
In a wok, add the grated daikon radish and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a simmer and cook while stirring for about 10 minutes, or until the daikon has wilted.
Remove the daikon from the wok and transfer into a large mixing bowl. Set aside and let cool. Reserve the liquid that's left in the wok and pour it into a measuring cup. Set that aside too. When the daikon is cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Clean the wok and heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the shiitake mushrooms, Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, and scallions. Stir fry for about 3 to 5 minutes. Then, let cool slightly.
In the mixing bowl with the daikon, add 1 cup of the reserved liquid. Then, stir in the rice flour, cornstarch, salt, sugar, ground white pepper, and the stir-fried meat and vegetables. You should have a thick batter.
Oil a container that can fit into your steamer. I used a 6" round Pyrex with a 4-cup capacity. Transfer the batter into the container, smooth out the top, and cover the container with a sheet of aluminum foil.
Steam for about 50 minutes over medium heat. Then, let cool completely before loosening the sides of the turnip cake and turning it out onto a cutting board.
Slice into 1/2" squares or rectangles. At this point, as long as they have cooled, you can refrigerate any extras.
Over medium heat, pan-fry the sliced turnip cake with vegetable oil until both sides are golden-brown. Serve with more scallions and enjoy!
Notes:
For the mushroom, sausage, and dried shrimp, try to dice into relatively small pieces. If the pieces are too large, it will make cutting the steamed turnip cake into even pieces difficult.
For easy slicing, I recommend wetting your knife between each slice to ensure that you get smooth pieces.
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