Turnip Cake (Loh Bak Go)

Turnip Cake aka Loh Bak Go is a Southern Chinese (Cantonese) dish that is eaten at dim sum restaurants and traditionally on Chinese New Year. The ‘cake’ is filled with chinese sausage, dried shrimp, cured pork belly, radish and taro. The cake is firm and usually steamed or pan-fried for extra crispiness. The taste is sweet from the radish and savory from the cured meats!

This dish is a labor of love and takes a few days to complete. However, this dish tastes better than the one you can get at the restaurant! Hope you enjoy!

INGREDIENTS YOU NEED FOR YOUR TURNIP CAKE:

Saute:

• 2lbs of chinese radish – skin peeled then shred
• ½ lb of Taro – skin peeled then cut in small pieces
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil (canola or avocado oil)
• 2 chinese sausage (¼ pound) – cut in small pieces
• ½ pound chinese cured pork belly – cut in small pieces
• ¼ cup dried shrimp (optional) – hydrated then cut in small pieces
• 1 ½ cups of water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper

Make Flour Paste:

• 1 ¾ cup water
• 1 ¾ cup of Turnip Cake Powder
• ¼ cup Rice Flour

Dipping Sauce:

• XO sauce (optional)
• chili oil

Turnip Cake Powder

You will need this Turnip Cake Powder to thicken your radish and sauteed ingredients. I find that this is easier than making your own at home. The turnip cake powder is a mixture of rice flour, corn starch, potato starch, and wheat starch and will give your turnip cake great texture!

STEPS TO MAKE THE TURNIP CAKE:

Prepare and cut your ingredients:

• Step 1. Hydrate the dried shrimp in boiling water. Peel radish and shred. Next, peel taro (I buy mine peeled!) and cut in ¼ inch small pieces. Cut Chinese sausage (wash this before cutting!) and pork belly in small pieces. Pour out shrimp water and chop up shrimp in very small pieces. Set everything aside.

Make Flour Paste:

• Step 2. Make flour paste by mixing 1 & ¾ cup water, 1 & ¾ cup of turnip cake flour and ¼ cup rice flour. Mix well until no flour is stuck to the bowl. Set aside.

Saute meats:

• Step 3. Heat large pan (if you use a pot, the amount of water may need to be adjusted because a pan will evaporate more water) on medium heat. When pan is hot, add 1 tablespoon oil. Cook chinese sausage, dried shrimp, and cured pork belly for 4-5 minutes. Set aside and take out meats on a separate plate.

• Step 4. Pour out oil in a bowl and wipe the pan with a paper towel. Use the same pan to cook the radish to get some of the meat flavor.

Saute radish and taro:

• Step 4. Heat pan on medium heat and add shredded chinese radish and taro. Add 1 & ½ cups of water. Cook for 2 minutes and add sauteed meats (chinese sausage, pork belly and shrimp).
• Step 5. Add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon, and ¼ teaspoon white pepper to the pan. Mix everything together and cook for 3 minutes. The water should be evaporated.

Add flour paste to saute pan:

• Step 6. Stir the flour paste again because the flour may have sunk to the bottom. Add flour paste from step 2 to the saute pan. Mix everything together until it looks like a paste texture.

Steam:

• Step 7. Add mixture into a 8 x 8 cake pan or 12 x 12 works too (Make sure you have a pot that fits the cake pan). Prepare large pot to steam. Add water and steam rack to pot. Heat pot to medium-high heat. Add cake pan mixture in the pot when the water is boiling. Steam for 1 hour.

Cool Down

• Step 8. After steaming, cool down turnip cake in room temperature. After it is cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• Step 9. Take the turnip cake out of the fridge and gently take out of cake pan. Gently slice (use sawing motion as chopping will smush the cake) in 3 x 4 inch rectangles. You can steam them or pan fry! Enjoy with XO sauce on top!
  • Steam Method: Prepare large pot to steam. Add water and steam rack to pot. Heat pot to medium-high heat. Steam for 5-7 minutes until turnip cake is hot!
  • Pan-Fry Method: Heat pan on medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil. Once pan is hot, gently add turnip cake on the pan and cook for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.