Chinese turnip (radish) cake is a delicious dim sum classic. It's a steamed rice cake made out of grated daikon and rice flour, and flavored with dried shrimp, Chinese sausage and mushrooms. The only regretful thing is that you have to wait until the day after you make the cake to enjoy it.
Well, you can eat it the same day you make the cake, but it's so much better if you wait til it firms up in the fridge, and you can pan fry each slice until it's golden brown on each side. That's how it's served at most dim sum restaurants.
My mom used to make a large tray of turnip cake for us when we were growing up, but I don't have 6 hungry mouths to feed. Plus I don't own a giant steamer. So this recipe is adapted to fit in a 6 cup round glass pyrex bowl (6.5 inch diameter, 3.5 inches high) that fits perfectly inside a 6 quart instant pot. Using the instant pot instead of a regular steamer offers the advantage of not having to watch and make sure the steamer doesn't dry out. Just set it, and wait for the "it's ready beeps"! But if you don't have an instant pot, steaming in a steamer is perfectly fine.
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| Grate and julienne daikon (1:1 ratio) for better texture |
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| Stir fry sausage, mushrooms and shrimp to enhance the flavor |
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| Cook daikon |
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| Add spices to daikon |
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| Return sausage, mushrooms and shrimp mixture to pan |
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| Rice flour (Make sure you don't use glutinous rice flour) |
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| Mix rice flour with tapioca flour and water |
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| Pour flour mixture into pan with daikon |
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| Steam the mixture in the instant pot |
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| Remove from instant pot and allow to cool in the fridge |
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| The next day, slice and pan fry |
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| Until golden brown on both sides |
Yields 3 servings
Ingredients:
- 1.25 lbs daikon
- 2 Chinese sausages, finely diced (about ½ c)
- ¼ c dried shrimp, reconstituted and roughly chopped
- ½ c dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted and finely diced (about 5 medium sized mushrooms)
- 1 T “Better than Bouillon” roasted chicken base (or 3 chicken bouillon cubes)
- 3 T dried chopped onions
- ½ t garlic powder
- 1 t salt
- ½ t ground black pepper
- 1 c rice flour*
- ¼ c tapioca starch
- 2 c water
* Make sure this is plain rice flour and not glutinous rice flour or sweet rice flour. See picture above. It (the brand from Thailand) usually comes in a red bag in Asian grocery stores.
Procedures:
1. Wash and peel daikon. Grate half the daikon, and julienne the other half. Set aside. (Note, you can grate all the daikon, but julienning half of the daikon gives the cake a better texture.)
2. In a large pan, under medium high heat, stir fry the chinese sausage, dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms for about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
3. In the same pan, add the daikon and stir fry under medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add in the salt, pepper, garlic, dried onions, and better than bouillon chicken base. Stir to mix and continue to cook for a few more minutes. Then add in the cooked chinese sausage, dried shrimp and mushrooms and increase the heat to medium high. Mix and continue to cook until most of the water has evaporated. (This is important. Too much liquid remaining = runny batter that won't set even after steaming). Turn off the heat.
4. In a bowl, mix together the rice flour, tapioca starch and water until well blended. Pour flour mixture into the pan with the daikon and meat. (Note, heat to the pan has been turned off, so you are not cooking here at this stage in the pan. It's just to save on bowls during clean up.) Mix well. Pour mixture into a 6 cup greased round glass pyrex bowl (6.5 inches in diameter, 3.5 inches high).
5. Place a rack inside the instant pot, and add about 2 cups water. Place the glass pyrex bowl with the turnip cake on top of the rack. Close the instant pot, and turn the vent to the sealed position.
6. Set the instant pot to steam cook for 35 minutes.
7. After the timer is up, wait 10 minutes. Then release and carefully open the lid. Remove the turnip cake from the instant pot and allow the cake to cool to room temperature. Cover the cake and store in the fridge to firm up.
8. The next day, take the cake out of the fridge and slice into 11 to 12 slices.
9. Place some oil in a non-stick pan and pan fry each piece on medium low heat until golden brown on both sides. Serve with hoisin and hot sauce.