Turnip cake

Turnip cake is a dim sum dish made of shredded radish and plain rice flour. Despite the name, turnip is not an actual ingredient, hence the less commonly-used but more accurate name of daikon cake. It is sometimes also referred to as radish cake. During ''yum cha'', turnip cake is usually cut into square-shaped slices and before serving. Each cake has a thin crunchy layer on the outside from frying, and soft on the inside. It is one of the standard dishes found in the dim sum cuisine of Hong Kong, China, and overseas Chinatown restaurants. It is also common in Chinese New Year festivals.

Preparation

To prepare a turnip cake, 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 ingedients are added. The ingredients are stirred together until combined along.

Additional ingredients that provide umami flavouring can be also added. They include chopped-up pieces of:

*Reconstituted dried shrimp
*Reconstituted dried Shiitake
*Chinese sausage
*Jinhua ham
*Shredded carrots

These flavouring 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 sprinking 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.

Note that variations for specific tastes do exist omitting some of the ingredients above and adding others.

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

Uses

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

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