Chinese New Year was just around the corner and for those who are in Asia, work has probably already resumed. Nonetheless, for most of the Chinese-speaking communities, the past week has probably been a week of full-on, unabashed gluttony revolving around family dinners and all kinds of sweets. And so, for the second recipe in the series, I am going to introduce my own version of a Cantonese dim sum staple - the turnip/daikon cake, or 蘿蔔糕 (lor bak go) as it is usually called in the local dialect.
The following amounts yield around 8-9 small lunch-box-sized containers.
Ingredients
- About 80 grams of dried conpoy (瑤柱). Preferably, the conpoy comes from Japan as they are bigger and more flavorful. This type of conpoy can be distinguished as it has a clear, distinct edge where the top and bottom meet the sides. As they end up shredded, the conpoy used can be incomplete rounds to save on the cost.
- About 50 grams of dried prawns (蝦乾). This can be substituted with dried shrimp (蝦米), the smaller cousin. However, I do find dried prawns yield a deeper flavor.
- 8 sticks of preserved Chinese sausage (臘腸). Use the red-colored sausage, not the dark brown liver sausage (潤腸).
- 5 pounds of Chinese radish, or daikon
- 2 shallots
- 340 grams of rice flour (粘米粉)
- 8 tablespoons of wheat starch (澄麵粉)
- About 2 cups of unsalted chicken stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
- A splash of Chinese cooking wine, preferably brown rice wine.
To Prep
- Cut off the heads and peel all the turnips. Set aside the trimmings for use later. Using a mandolin, slice turnips into 3 millimeter thick slices. Stack turnip slices and coarsely julienne them, approximately 1 millimeter wide for each baton. Reserve for use later.
- Bring chicken stock to a light boil and simmer the reserved turnip trimmings to infuse flavor into the stock. When the trimmings become adequately soft and pliable, usually after 30 minutes, pass the stock through fine sieve to remove any impurities. Throw away the trimmings and set the infused stock aside for use later.
- For the conpoy, soak these overnight in enough water to cover all of them in a flat layer. The next day, separate the remaining liquid and the rehydrated scallop. Shred the scallop by hand and set aside. As for the remaining liquid, set aside for use later.
- For the dried prawns, soak these in enough hot water to cover them in a flat layer. After 20 minutes, pour the water out. Wash these prawns under running water until the water does not contain any sediment or sand. Set rehydrated prawns aside for use later.
- Place the 8 sticks of preserved Chinese sausage in boiling water for 5 minutes. The point here is to remove excess oils from the sausages. When time is up, drain, pat dry, and chop them into 1.5 inches long sticks.
- Peel and coarsely chop the shallots.
To Cook
- Using a food processor, blitz the rehydrated prawns, chopped Chinese sausages and chopped shallots together. A coarse cut resulting in small, bite-sized cubes is ideal.
- Liberally oil a pan and bring it to high heat first. Along with the mixture from the food processor, add in 70 grams of the rehydrated conpoy. Sautee ingredients over high heat until thoroughly cooked through, around 10 minutes. Season to taste. As the preserved sausages are inherently salty, less additional salt is required in the seasoning. Set aside when done.
- Deglaze residual browned bits (thanks to the Maillard reaction) with enough cooking wine. Scrape the pan clean and pour the remaining liquid and solid bits into reserved chicken stock.
- Oil the base of a big pot and bring it to high heat. Add in all the julienned turnips.
- Sautee the root vegetable and season liberally. Keep stirring until the sticks are becoming translucent and water starts seeping out from the turnips.
- At this point, pour the chicken stock mixture and conpoy juice. If the liquid is not enough to cover all the turnips in the pot, add in enough chicken stock so that it does. Bring the stock to a boil and simmer the turnips down until they are completely translucent and pliable over a soft boil.
- Measure out the rice flour and wheat starch and add into the pot of turnips. Stir vigorously to combine well. Take careful note to press down on any clumps of flour until there are no white spots remaining. The ideal texture is one where the mixture is neither too watery nor too thick. As long as the pasty mixture requires some force to stir through, it is the right texture.
- Add in the sauteed meats and seafood from step (2) to the turnip mix. Stir and combine thoroughly to create a homogeneous texture.
- Brush the containers with oil so that the paste will not stick.
- Portion out the turnip paste into the containers. Sprinkle the remaining 10 grams of conpoy over the top of the paste in each container as garnish.
- Over high heat, steam the turnip paste for 30 to 45 minutes. Remember to periodically check to see if the water is evaporated. If so, remember to replenish water.
- Once out of the steamer, poke a chopstick into the cake. If the chopstick is clean without any paste or flour clinging to it upon extraction, the cake is cooked.
- Let cool to room temperature. While hot, the cake can be sprinkled with chopped chives and scallions for additional flavor. As the paste starts to congeal, the toppings will stick. Voilà!
To Serve
- Either reheat in microwave or steamer. For a more classic flavor, cut the cake into bite-sized slabs and sautee over medium heat. Serve hot with chili sauce and oyster sauce on the side.