Turnip cake facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Turnip cake

Alternative names	Radish cake
Course	Dim sum
Place of origin	Southern China
Region or state	Chinese-speaking areas
Main ingredients	shredded radish (typically Chinese radish), plain rice flour
Variations	Fried and steamed

Turnip cake (traditional Chinese: 蘿蔔糕; simplified Chinese: 萝卜糕; pinyin: luóbo gāo; Cantonese Yale: lòbaahk gōu) is a Chinese dim sum dish. The less commonly used radish cake is a more accurate name, as Western-style turnips are not used in the dish but rather shredded radish (typically Chinese radish) and plain rice flour. It is traditionally called carrot cake in Singapore.

Turnip cake is commonly served in Cantonese yum cha, usually cut into rectangular slices and sometimes pan-fried before serving. Each pan-fried cake has a thin crunchy layer on the outside from frying, and is soft on the inside. The non-fried version is soft all over. It is one of the standard dishes found in the dim sum cuisine of China as well as overseas Chinatown restaurants. It is also commonly eaten during Chinese New Year, since the word for radish (菜頭, chhài-thâu) is a homophone for "good fortune" (好彩頭, hó-chhái-thâu) in the Hokkien language. In Taiwan, turnip cake is also commonly eaten as part of a breakfast.

Preparation

To prepare a turnip cake, roots of Chinese radish are first shredded. Chinese radish, either the white-and-green variety or the all-white variety, is one of the key ingredients since it makes up a large portion of the cake. The other key ingredients are water and rice flour. Corn starch is sometimes added as it aids in binding the cake together, especially when a large number of additional ingredients (see list below) are added. The ingredients are stirred together until combined.

Additional ingredients that provide umami flavouring can be also added. They include diced or minced pieces of:

• Dried shrimp
• Dried shiitake
• Chinese sausage
• Jinhua ham

These flavoring ingredients may first be stir-fried before being added to the radish and flour/starch mixture. Somewhat more luxurious cakes will add larger amounts of these ingredients directly to the mixture. Cheaper variants, especially those sold in dim sum restaurants, will often just have a sprinkling on the top, to keep costs down.

This combined mixture is then poured in a steamer lined with greased aluminum foil or cellophane, and steamed at high heat for 40 to 60 minutes until it solidifies into a gelatinous mass.

For those with allergies to radishes, some recipes substitute turnip for radish. Taro or pumpkin cakes are other variants to it.

Uses

Although the steamed turnip cakes can be consumed straight with soy sauce, they are commonly cooked again to add additional flavors. For instance, turnip cake can be sliced into rectangular pieces when cooled and then pan-fried until both sides turn golden. It is served with chili sauce and/or hoisin sauce on the side as condiments.

Turnip cake made into dark (with dark soy and molasses) and light (salt and fish sauce)-styled chai tow kway

Turnip cake can also be stir-fried and made into the dish chai tow kway.

See also

In Spanish: Pastel de nabo para niños