The Sinosphere · Volume 31, The Wok’s Breath, the Tea Trolley and the Coconut Coast

Turnip cake with cured meat, lo bak go

Name: Turnip cake with cured meat, lo bak go
Total time: 2 h
Yield: Makes one large tray, serves 8 to 10 as dim sum
Cuisine: Guangdong and Hainan
Ingredients: 1 kg daikon radish, peeled and coarsely grated; 300 g rice flour; 2 lap cheong sausages and about 100g cured pork belly Cantonese cured sausage and cured pork belly, diced; 2 tbsp dried shrimp, 3 to 4 dried scallops and 4 dried shiitake mushrooms dried shrimp, dried scallop, dried shiitake, soaked and diced; 2 tsp salt, a good pinch of white pepper, 1 tsp sugar, half a tsp chicken bouillon powder salt, white pepper, sugar, chicken bouillon

Guangdong, the yum cha table

Lo bak go, steamed and pan-fried daikon cake with the dried-seafood three treasures: pan-fried golden-brown slices of turnip cake stacked loosely on a plate, the cut edge showing flecks of cured sausage, dried shrimp and shiitake through the pale ivory cake.

An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.

Time: 2 hours

Researched: Researched from 118 sources in the brief, none yet linked in the text
Reviewed: Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
Cooked: Not yet cooked and reported

Yum cha's own pan-fried dim sum staple, built on the "three treasures" of dried shrimp, shiitake and scallop.

As tradition built it

Makes one large tray, serves 8 to 10 as dim sum. 2 hours, mostly hands-off steaming.

Ingredients

1 kg daikon radish, peeled and coarsely grated
300 g rice flour
2 lap cheong sausages and about 100g cured pork belly Cantonese cured sausage and cured pork belly, diced
2 tbsp dried shrimp, 3 to 4 dried scallops and 4 dried shiitake mushrooms dried shrimp, dried scallop, dried shiitake, soaked and diced
2 tsp salt, a good pinch of white pepper, 1 tsp sugar, half a tsp chicken bouillon powder salt, white pepper, sugar, chicken bouillon

Method

Sauté the diced cured sausage and pork with the soaked, diced dried shrimp, scallop and shiitake, deglazed with a dash of Shaoxing wine.
Separately, cook the grated daikon with salt, white pepper, a little sugar and chicken bouillon over gentle heat until soft and translucent, its own liquid released.
Off the heat, fold the sautéed cured-meat mixture through the softened daikon.
Gradually stir in the rice flour, working to a thick, evenly combined batter with no dry pockets.
Pour into an oiled tray and steam for around 45 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
Cool fully, then slice and pan-fry both sides until golden before serving.

What a modern chef changes

Texture control at the daikon stage.

Method

Cook the daikon down further than tradition, reducing more of its liquid before the rice flour goes in, for a firmer, more sliceable cake that holds together better under the pan-frying step.
Render the cured meats to a genuinely crisp finish before folding them through, rather than a light sauté, so their texture survives the steaming step rather than turning uniformly soft.
Chill the finished cake fully overnight before slicing, giving cleaner cuts and a better contrast between the crisp fried surface and the tender interior.

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