Vegan Kimchi Turnip Cakes

Turnip cake (Lo Bak Go) is another gluten-free Cantonese savory dish that you can find in dim sum houses or local breakfast shops. Eating turnip cakes with your family is also a tradition in Lunar New Year. Just in case you’re searching for a grandma recipe, this vegan version is not the traditional one but tastes better than what you can get in the restaurants!

I will not say turnip cake is my favorite dim sum. One reason is that most of the time I wasn’t always served what I want in the restaurants. Most restaurant versions were with very few filling ingredients that I could barely see. It was like eating a piece of steamed cake made with rice flour. Another reason is, I like dim sum so much that I can’t even decide which one is my favorite! Anyhow, I’m saying that I’ve prepared a lot of filling for my homemade version!

Texture of the turnip cakes Everyone prefers different texture of turnip cakes. Most versions I had in Hong Kong are a bit chewy in texture and I like it. For homemade version, the texture depends on the below two elements:

**1. Way to prepare turnips I like the radishes being visible on the cake and when I eat it, I can taste the radishes. To do these, I prepared radishes in two different ways - chopped half of them into strips and grated another half.

2. Flours

My family and I like turnip cakes that are not too chewy but not too tender, so I’ve added a little tapioca flour into the recipe. If you prefer the cakes more tender, just reduce the amount of tapioca flour and substitute with more white rice flour.

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How to make great vegan turnip cakes?

The use of mushrooms is the key. Instead of the fresh ones, dried shiitake mushrooms are always used in making turnip cakes. The dried ones must be soaked for at least 6 hours beforehand and ‘mushroom water’ can be saved for the batter. It’ll make the cake more fragrant.

Apart from shiitake mushrooms, I’ve also chosen fresh white button mushrooms for this recipe. I love the aroma of white button mushrooms, which can absolutely take over the place of dried shrimp in traditional turnip cakes! Different mushrooms have different taste and fragrance, so feel free to add more types to tailor-make your own turnip cakes.

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To serve

People usually serve turnip cakes with chili sauce/oil, or simply dip in soy sauce. There’re actually some more sauces to choose from that I believe they’re more ‘Hong Kong-style’.

Hoisin sauce is my favorite dipping sauce. It’s thick, sweet and salty making it great for cutting through the richness.

This may sound weird but serving turnip cakes with peanut sauce is a thing! It’s always used in Chinese flour dishes like Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls (Chee Cheong Fun) and Cold Green-bean Noodles.

 

Storage

Even it’s homemade, you can still make this turnip cake ahead of time, like most families do. Store the steamed turnip cakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Sliced them for pan-frying or reheating when you want.

 

MORE ASIAN-STYLE/HONG KONG-STYLE RECIPES /

• Gluten-free Vegan Rainbow Crispy Pan Fried Dumplings

• HK x Viet-style Rice Paper Spring Rolls

• Gluten-free Pan-fried Veggie Buns

• Hong Kong-style Vegan Chow Fun

• Gluten-free Vegan Kimchi Pancakes

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Vegan Kimchi Turnip Cake

Turnip cake (Lo Bak Go) is another gluten-free Cantonese savory dish that you can find in dim sum houses or local breakfast shops. Eating turnip cakes with your family is also a tradition in Lunar New Year. Just in case you’re searching for a grandma recipe, this vegan version is not the traditional one but tastes better than what you can get in the restaurants!

Grandma!

• Bamboo steamer

• Pan or cake pan (4” x 7” x 1.5”)

    For filling

• 300 grams radishes/daikons (200 grams after peeled) (chop into strips & shredded/grated & /)

• 200 grams water

• 1 tablespoon cooking oil

• 2-3 dried shiitake mushrooms (soaked at least 6 hours & finely chopped &)

• 1/2 onion (finely chopped - 120 grams)

• 2-3 fresh white button mushrooms (finely chopped)

• 1 large carrot (grated - 80 grams)

• 100 grams Kimchi (cut into small pieces)

• 2 teaspoons rice wine /

• 1/2 tablespoon vegan & gluten-free oyster sauce ”

• 1 tablespoon tamari

• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

For batter

• 113 grams white rice flour (2/3 cup + 2 teaspoons)
• 12 grams tapioca flour (1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons)
• 115 grams ‘mushroom water’ or water (1/2 cup)
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

Shred/grate half of the radish and squeeze radishes over a bowl to remove excess moisture. Chop another half into strips.

In a frying-pan heat 1/2 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat, fry shiitake mushrooms until golden brown, then add white button mushrooms to fry until they start to soften, add rice wine to stir-fry for about 30 seconds more. Transfer the mushrooms into a small bowl and set aside.

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In the same pan heat 1/2 tablespoon more oil, fry onions until fragrant, then add carrots to fry until soft. Add Kimchi and mushrooms to give them a quick stir, then stir in oyster sauce, tamari, salt and ground white pepper. Taste and add more seasonings if necessary. The taste should be a bit more robust than normal as they should add flavors to the batter. Transfer the filling into a dish or bowl.

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Grease a 4 inch x 7 inch x 1.5 inch rectangular pan with oil.

4 x 7 x 1.5

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together white rice flour and tapioca flour, then add mushroom water/water, salt and ground white pepper to mix until no lumps. The batter should be thick like muffin batter.

Clean the frying pan. Add radishes and water to cook over medium-high heat, until the radishes become soft and translucent. There should be some water left as radishes will produce liquid after cooking. The liquid will be used for the batter.

Transfer the radishes and liquid immediately into the mixing bowl with batter while still hot. Stir them to combine, then fold in filling until evenly distributed.

**Steam with a pot: **use a pot that can fit your pan for steaming. Bring plenty of water to a boil. Pour batter into a greased pan. Put the pan inside a bamboo steamer and put the pot lid on, or if you do not have a bamboo steamer, just simply cover the pot lid with cloth to prevent water running onto the batter. Steam it for 40 minutes over medium-high heat.

Steam with a steam oven: preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F). Pour batter into a greased pan. Put a lid covered with cloth over the pan. Steam it for 40 minutes over 110°C with steam mode.

Insert a toothpick in the centre of the cake to see if it comes out clean to check the doneness.

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**: **110°C230°F40

Remove the mold from the heat and let cool for about 30 minutes to set. Loosen the sides with a spatula and put it upside down onto a cutting board. Slice the turnip cake into ½ to 1-inch pieces.

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In a frying pan heat a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, pan-fry the turnip cake slices until both sides are golden brown and crispy. Serve with chilli sauce/oil, tamari, hoisin sauce or peanut sauce as you like!

	Breakfast, Main Course, SnackCantonese, Hong KongBreakfast, Gluten-free, Savory, Snack, Vegan, ,