Savory Turnip Cake
‘Lo Bak Go’ - 蘿蔔糕
My grandma’s (Pau Pau, 婆婆) recipe for Chinese turnip cake — a recipe she’s made for years for her family to celebrate Chinese New Year. The steamed turnip cake is filled with umami-packed ingredient like shiitake mushrooms, Chinese sausage, and oyster sauce, then topped with sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds. It’s sliced and seared to golden brown perfection, resulting in a cake with a crisp exterior and softer, creamy interior. On the table, it’s served with (even more) oyster sauce over top and has easily become one of my favorite comfort foods. When my Pau Pau stopped making this new year treat from old age, together, my mom and I learned the recipe from her to keep the tradition alive and record it in my scrapbook of family recipes for generations to come.
Prep Time: 1.5 hours | Cook Time: 2 hours | Yield: ~4-6 servings (one 8” round cake pan)
*Note: I like to multiply this recipe x3 around the holidays to share with friends and family. :)
Tools —
Large knife/cleaver
Medium mixing bowl
Large mixing bowl
Sturdy pair of chopsticks or wooden spoon
Rubber spatula
Ladle
8” round metal cake pan
Medium pot with lid
Medium sauté pan
Big pot with steaming rack/Steamer
Ingredients —
*All ingredients can be found at your local Asian grocery store, ideally at a Chinese grocery store like 99 Ranch. Places like HMart or Mitsuwa may have some ingredients, but not all.
1/4 lb. lean ground pork
½ tsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1.5 tbsp oyster sauce, Lee Kum Kee brand
Salt & pepper
5 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated & small dice
2 Chinese sausage (lap cheong), small diced
½ yellow onion, small diced
2 tbsp dried shrimp, soaked beforehand (optional)
1 medium Chinese turnip, jardinierre cut (fancy name for cutting into strips) [can substitute with daikon or white radish]
Water
1-1.5 chicken bouillon cube, Herbox brand
1 x 16 oz. bag rice flour, Flying Horse brand
Neutral oil, for cooking & to coat cake pan
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Scallions, sliced into small rounds, for garnish
Instructions —
1. If using dried shiitake mushrooms, place in a container with water and let rehydrate overnight. Squeeze away excess water when fully hydrated.
2. The next day, prepare steamer or big pot with steaming rack and add water to pot. Turn on low heat until ready to steam cake.
3. Small dice Chinese sausage, onion, and shiitake mushrooms. Set aside.
4. Combine ground pork with sugar, cornstarch, oyster sauce, salt, and pepper in a medium mixing bowl. Add small diced shiitake mushrooms. Mix together and set aside.
5. In a medium sauté pan, add neutral oil and sauté onion until translucent. Next, add marinated ground pork mixture and cook for ~5 minutes or until par-cooked. Then, add mushrooms and Chinese sausage. Set aside and cool.
6. Peel Chinese turnip and cut into rounds with about 1/8 to 1/4” thickness. Then, cut into thin strips (called a jardeniere slice - approx size: 1/8-1/4” width x 2-3” length). Add sliced turnips to a medium pot and add about 2 cups water or until the water just covers the top of the turnips. Cover & bring to a boil.
7. When boiling, add a chicken bouillon cube to the pot. Cover again until the turnips are soft and tender.
8. In the meantime, add rice flour to a large mixing bowl and add 1 cup of cool water gradually. Mix together w chopsticks or a wooden spoon until just incorporated and set aside. The dough should be fairly wet & fall back onto itself when stirred.
9. When turnips are soft, immediately pour the turnip and hot water into the rice flour mixture. Mix gradually. It’s important that the turnips are HOT! Mix until the batter has a smooth and creamy consistency (very similar to mashed potatoes). Make sure to stir in only one direction & without turning the spoon too much so that you’re not adding air bubbles.
10. Add the sautéed ground pork, Chinese sausage, onion, and shiitake mushroom mixture to the rice flour batter. Stir together until well combined.
11. Coat an 8” round metal pans with neutral oil. Pour batter into the pan and spread the top with a rubber spatula to make smooth.
12. Place pan in a steamer and turn up heat to medium high. Cook for 1- 1.5 hours, making sure to add additional water to the steamer as needed. Use a high flame at beginning and then lower toward the end.
13. After 1 hour of cooking, check to see the cake is firm and not sticky (insert a chopstick vertically if there isn’t batter stuck when you pull it out, it’s ready!). Your cooking time will vary depending on the strength of your flame so it can take up to 1.5 hours to fully cook.
14. Add toasted sesame seeds and sliced scallions to the top. Cover for 2 minutes.
15. When cooked, take the rice cake out of the steam pot and let cool until room temperature. Ideally the cake is eaten the next day when it’s hardened and easier to handle.
16. Use a butter knife to release the edges and remove the cake from the pan. Slice the steamed turnip cake into 1/2'“ thick strips.
17. Heat a medium pan, add oil, and sear the outside until golden brown.
18. Serve hot with oyster sauce on the side and enjoy!