Turnip Cake

Turnip cake (lo bak go in Cantonese, luóbo gāo in Mandarin) is a fixture of Cantonese dim sum and a strongly seasonal food associated with the Lunar New Year period — the Cantonese word for radish (lo bak) sounds like a phrase meaning 'good fortune arrives', making it an auspicious food for gifting and celebration.

The construction begins with grated white daikon radish (Chinese radish, not the smaller salad radish variety). The radish is salted and squeezed to remove its liquid — this step prevents the finished cake from being watery. The grated radish is then combined with rice flour, the reserved radish liquid, and a selection of flavour ingredients: dried shrimp (providing deep umami), diced Chinese sausage (lap cheong, sweet and fragrant), dried scallop and sometimes shiitake mushroom. The seasoning is white pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil and a little sugar. The mixture is stirred into a thick batter and steamed in a deep rectangular mould for 45–60 minutes until set firm.

The resulting block is cooled, then sliced into thick pieces (roughly 2cm) for service. At dim sum restaurants, the slices are pan-fried in a lightly oiled flat pan until the exterior is golden and slightly crisped while the interior remains soft, custardy and yielding — a cooked texture somewhere between firm polenta and very soft potato cake. The grated radish provides a slight natural sweetness and a faint fibrous texture.

Served with a small dish of chilli sauce or hoisin. A vegetarian version (without shrimp and sausage) is standard at temples and vegetarian restaurants. The plain rice-flour version without additional flavourings is used as an offering in Cantonese Buddhist ceremony.