Turnip cake is my husband’s favorite dim sum dish which can be found in Chinese dim sum restaurants throughout the year. Turnip cake is traditionally made during the Chinese New Year since turnip is a homophone for “good fortune”, so people would make 10 plus containers and give them to friends and relatives.
The difference between homemade one and restaurant one is the amount of filling. Even you find an authentic Chinese dim sum restaurant, you still won’t be satisfied with the filling (quite stingy). This recipe requires a lot of chopping, but you will appreciate every effort you put on making this.
Ingredients for filling:
| 550g 3.5 cups 220g 250g 2 links 80 g 20 g 15 g 5-6 pieces 2 stalks |
Grated turnip Turnip juice Rice flour Cornstarch Chinese preserved sausage (chopped) Chinese preserved bacon (chopped) Dried shrimp Dried scallops (soaked and chopped) Shittake mushrooms (chopped) Green onion (chopped) |
Marinate for filling:
| 1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon 1 Tablespoon |
Light soy sauce Light brown sugar Rice cooking wine |
Seasoning for grated turnip:
| 1 Tablespoon ½ teaspoon 1 Tablespoon ½ teaspoon 1 cup ½ cup |
Chicken powder Salt Light brown sugar White pepper (optional) Chicken broth liquid from soaking the dried scallops |
Directions:
- In a large bowl, shred turnip with a grater or you can use a food processor. Separate turnip liquid and grated turnip. You should have about 2 to 2.5 cups of turnip liquid, then add water to reach 3½ cups. Save about 550g of grated turnip for later use.
- Soak shiitake mushrooms until softened. Squeeze the mushrooms to drain all water. Chop and set aside.
- Soak dried scallops until softened, reserve the water for later use, chop and set aside.
- Rinse all ingredients, chop Chinese sausage, bacon, dried shrimp and green onion, set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the rice flour, cornstarch and turnip liquid, stir with a spatula until well blended.
- Combine chopped sausage, bacon, dried shrimp, mushrooms and scallops in a large bowl and marinate with soy sauce, sugar and cooking wine. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a frying pan, stir fry for 2 minutes. Set aside.
- Add two tablespoons of oil and a clove of garlic to a large skillet, when garlic turns slightly brown, discard garlic and pour grated turnip into the skillet, stir fry for 2 minutes and add in chicken broth, liquid saved from soaking dried scallops, chicken powder, salt, sugar and pepper, mix well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes over medium low heat.
- After 5 minutes, return meat mixture to the skillet, stir fry until everything is combined. Gradually add liquid mixture and chopped green onion to the pan and mix well (turn fire down to medium low).
- Transfer the batter to two 8-inch pie pans. Steam the batter for 40 minutes over medium high heat.
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The most common way to eat this turnip cake is to slice to 3/4″ thick pieces and pan fry until both sides are golden brown. Served with hot sauce.
GinsKitchen 