Chinese Daikon (Turnip) Cake


Chinese New Year, the year of the rooster, is this Saturday, January 28, and I am in prep mode.  I pulled this recipe out from a post from a few years ago and made a few minor edits and added some photos. I made a 1.5 batch of the below recipe this time around and am posting this ahead of the final step of frying before eating so that you can use the recipe if you'd like before the weekend.  I'll be adding the finished product photo later this weekend.  

This recipe contains a lot more of the flavor bits; the Chinese sausage, shiitake mushrooms, dried shrimp and scallion than I've had at our local dim sum restaurants.  I think it probably contains more daikon as well as the daikon being more substantial in the cake.  I used my food processor with the grater attachment to grate the 3 pounds of daikon, so the size of the grated daikon is thicker.  In comparison, this daikon cake will not be as smooth and doughy than what you might get at a restaurant.  I favor the extra flavor bits and daikon strips.

2 lbs Chinese daikon
1 oz small dried shrimp
1 1/2 cups dried shiitake mushrooms
5 oz Chinese sausage
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, finely minced
3 tsp sugar
3 tsp rice wine
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/4 tsp Ground white pepper
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1 2/3 cups rice flour
2 cups of liquid reserved from turnip, shrimp and shiitakes
oil for pan frying

Grate the turnip using a coarse grater into a large bowl, or use the grater attachment on your food processor.  Cover the turnips with salted boiling water and let sit for 5 minutes.  Drain using a sieve or colander, reserving the liquid.  When cool enough, squeeze out as much excess water as possible and squeeze the water into the reserved water.  Loosen the daikon so it is not stuck together. 

Rinse then soak the dried shrimp in boiling water until soft.  Drain, adding the liquid to the turnip liquid.  Chop the shrimp into very small pieces.

Rinse then soak the shiitake mushrooms in boiling water until softened.  Drain and add the liquid to the turnip liquid.  Squeeze out excess liquid from the mushrooms, remove stems and finely chop.

Steam the Chinese sausages for about 10 minutes and finely dice.










In a large wok, heat 1 tbsp of oil.  Fry the sausages for about a minute and then add the shrimp and mushrooms and fry for another couple of minutes.  If you have very lean sausages, you may need to add additional oil. Add the scallions, garlic, sugar, wine, soy and white pepper and stir fry for another couple of minutes.  Then add the turnip, cilantro and rice flour and toss to combine well.  Add the reserved liquid and mix well.  







Put the turnip mixture into a greased square pan, 10" x 10".  Or split up into two smaller pans depending on the size of your steamer or wok.  Steam for 75 to 90 minutes, adding water as needed to steamer.  I am now the happy owner of a convection steam oven, so I used that this time around.  But a large wok or other steam contraption will work just fine.



Let cool slightly, cover and refrigerate overnight.  Remove the cake from the pan and cut into small squares.  With our below freezing temps, I just put my pan outside for a few couple of hours and it was ready to go.  



Pan fry the turnip cakes in a little bit of oil over medium heat until heated through and just slightly crispy on the outside. 

Comments

  1. Thank you so much for this recipe I tried it and it tasted really yummy and delicious my whole family liked it I will try it again.

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