Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go) | Two Plaid Aprons (2024)

Chinese turnip cake or lo bak go is a popular dim sum dish that's often also served at banquets and for holidays like Lunar New Year. It's a savory radish cake loaded with radish, Chinese sausage and cured meat, and dry seafood and shiitake mushrooms. Enjoy it with some Chinese chili oil or this 5 minute chili oil for a little kick. Although homemade turnip cake takes a little work to make, it is much more flavor than what's served at most restaurants and you can definitely taste the difference and the love put into making it.

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What is turnip cake?

Chinese turnip cake, or lo bak go in cantonese and luo bo gao in mandarin, is a savory radish cake with Chinese sausage (lap cheong), Chinese cured meat, dried seafood like shrimps and scallops, and shiitake mushrooms. It's sometimes also referred to as radish cake because it's made with radish, but through mis-translation, it became turnip cake.

Turnip cakes is a popular dim sum item, but is also commonly served during banquets and holidays like Chinese New Year for its auspicious nature, very much like why pan fried dumplings, Chinese new year rice cake, and fish are served for new year.

Ingredients needed for Chinese turnip cake

Please scroll down to the recipe card for the ingredient quantities!

For the bulk of the turnip cake:

• Chinese radish - Chinese radish, or Chinese turnip, is less common than other Asian radishes, but it's usually available at Chinese grocery stores and supermarkets. Unlike daikon radish which is long and skinny, Chinese radish is much thicker, rounder, and shorter. Chinese radish is preferred because it tastes sweeter and less bitter compared to daikon radish, which is a suitable replacement if you can't find Chinese radish.
  • For either radishes, look for ones that are smooth, have the least amount of roots, and feels heavy for its size.

• Sugar - Adding a little sugar to the radish helps with the bitterness. A little sugar also helps to round out the flavor in savory dishes.
• Dried shrimps, scallops, shiitake mushrooms - These three dry ingredients are the main flavor bomb of this recipe and make the turnip cake super fragrant. You can find all three of these most Asian markets. If you can't find dry scallop, use double the amount of dried shrimps instead.
• Chinese sausage (lap cheong) and cured meat - These two cured meats are classic in Chinese cuisine and adds lots of flavor, like in our Chinese sticky rice and claypot rice recipe. The Chinese cured meat also adds a nice hint of five spice. Both can be found at most Asian markets.
• Shallot and green onion - Both makes the turnip cake extra fragrant and more flavorful. Never miss a chance to layer flavor!
• Oil - any neutral oil for cooking

For the batter:

• Regular rice flour - DO NOT confuse this with glutinous rice flour, which yields a chew, mochi-like texture. Regular rice flour is usually package in a red bag and is the main starch for the batter.
• Cornstarch - If the turnip cake is made of only rice flour, the texture can be too stiff. So adding a little cornstarch helps keep the cake tender and not stiff. Alternatively, you can use wheat starch or tapioca starch instead of cornstarch.
• Salt and white pepper - For seasoning.
• The liquid - This is made up of the liquid from soaking the dried seafood and mushrooms and the cooking liquid from the radish. Instead of using plain water, this would yield a more flavorful turnip cake.

How to make turnip cake (lo bak go)

Please scroll down to the recipe card for the full recipe and instructions!

Prepare ingredients:

1. For the dried ingredients. Rinse the dried shrimps, dried scallops, and dried shiitake mushrooms to remove any debris and place each into a heatproof bowl. Add enough hot water to each bowl to cover the contents. Set aside and let them rehydrate for about 15 to 30 minutes as you prepare the other ingredients.

Once all of the dried ingredients are rehydrated, roughly chop up the shrimps, shred the scallops, and dice the shiitake mushrooms. Reserve their soaking liquid for later.

2. For the radish. Wash and peel the Chinese radish. Cut half of the radish into ¼ inch slices then into ¼ inch sticks. Set aside until needed. For the other half of the radish, either grate it by hand using the coarsest side of a box grater, use a food processor with the coarsest grating attachment, or julienne the radish by hand so that they are thin matchsticks. Set aside until needed.

Make the turnip cake:

1. Saute the aromatic ingredients. In a large saute pan or wok over medium heat, add about 2 tablespoons of oil. Once hot, add the shallot and the white part of the green onion and saute until fragrant, about 15 to 30 seconds. Add the Chinese sausage and cured meat and saute for about 30 seconds.

Following, add the rehydrated seafood and shiitake mushrooms and saute until fragrant, about another 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Cook the radish. In the same pan over medium heat, add the last tablespoon of oil. Once hot, add the radish sticks (the thick ones) and cook for about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the grated radish and cook for another minute or until some liquid starts to pool at the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle in the sugar and mix well. Increase the heat to medium high and cover the pan with a lid. Let the radish steam for about 3 to 5 minutes or until the thick radish sticks are just cooked and look translucent. Remove from heat.

3. Strain the radish. At this point, there will be a pool of liquid at the bottom of the pan.

Using a mesh strainer, drain liquid into a bowl and firmly press on the radish to remove excess moisture. Do this in batches.

After draining, place the radish back into the pan and add the collected radish cooking liquid into the measuring cup with the soaking liquid.

📝 Note: Per recipe, you want to equal 2 cups of liquid. This is the 2 cups of total liquid listed on the ingredient list. If there's not enough, add some water to top it off.

4. Make the batter. Whisk together the rice flour and cornstarch and add the reserved liquid (from soaking and the radish). Whisk until no lumps remain and the batter is smooth. Add the salt and white pepper and whisk to combine.

5. Cook the batter. Heat the pan with the radish over medium heat and add the sautéed cured meat and seafood. Mix and saute everything until well combined and hot again.

Give the prepared batter a good mix and pour it into the pan. Constantly mix and toss everything until the batter thickens into a paste and everything holds together. To finish, add the green parts of the green onion and give everything a good mix and remove from heat.

🌟 Pro tip: Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan often to prevent the starch from burning and only thickening at the bottom. We want to incorporate the thickened starch so that it holds everything together.

Assemble and steam:

6. Prepare equipment. Bring 2 to 3 inches of water to a boil in your steamer and prepare a round cake pan (8 or 9 inch) or anything that will fit inside of your steam basket and grease the bottom and sides with oil. We also recommend lining the bottom of the pan with a sheet of parchment for easier removal.

7. Mold the cake. Meanwhile assemble the turnip cake. Transfer the turnip cake mixture into the greased cake pan. Make sure the batter is packed into the pan and that there's no air pockets. Smooth and flatten out the top of the mixture.

📝 Note: If using an 8 inch pan, the turnip cake will reach the lip of the pan but it should all fit. This will yield a taller turnip cake.

8. Optional- Sprinkle the reserved Chinese sausage and cured meat on top of the turnip cake then give it a gentle pat to make sure everything sticks.

9. Steam. Place the turnip cake into the steamer with the lid on and steam on medium high for about 40 minutes or until the turnip cake is cooked through.

✅ How to tell if it's cooked: You can check by inserting a thick skewer or a chopstick in the center. If it comes out clean or with only translucent bits, it's done. If the paste comes out white and opaque, steam longer (in 5 to 10 minute increments).

10. Cool. Remove the turnip cake from the steamer and let it cool completely before covering and refrigerating. Sprinkle some thinly sliced green onion on top for garnish if desired. We recommend letting the turnip cake chill in the fridge overnight for easier cutting.

To serve:

Chinese turnip cake can be enjoyed right out of the steamer without pan frying, but it's definitely much better pan fried.

1. Cut the turnip cake. Once the turnip cake has cooled, run a knife around the edge of the pan. Flip the pan upside down onto the cutting board to remove the turnip cake.

Take off the parchment paper if used. Cut the turnip cake into ½ inch slices (or your desired thickness).

2. Pan fry. In a nonstick pan over medium heat, add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Arrange the sliced turnip cakes in the pan, and sear both sides until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. If desired, you can sear all of the sides as well. Remove from pan.

3. Enjoy. Garnish the seared turnip cake with more green onion if desired and enjoy by itself, with chili oil, Sriracha, soy sauce, or XO sauce while hot.

Recipe tips

• Pick good radishes. Make sure the to get radishes that feel heavy for its size. This means the radish is fresher and juicier, which will give us more radish cooking liquid for the batter.
• Don't grate all of the radish. Instead cut some of the radish into thicker sticks (at least ¼ inch or thicker) to give the turnip cake texture.
• Strain the radish well. This is so that there's no excess moisture in the turnip cake, which make make it feel soggy and too soft.
• Don't cut the flavoring bits too small. Having them in a bigger dice not only adds texture to the turnip cake, but they will also be more flavorful.

Storage

Leftover turnip cake should be kept refrigerated in an airtight container and should be enjoyed within 5 to 7 days. Also, we recommend only pan frying as much as you will be eating for best texture and flavor.

Although you can freeze the turnip cake, we don't recommend because the turnip becomes very soft after freezing and the starch looses its texture. If you don't mind it, feel free to freeze the turnip cake for up to 2 months. Keep it uncut if possible and make sure to wrap it well and store it in an airtight container. Thaw in the fridge overnight before pan frying.

Reheating

Leftover Chines turnip cake can be treated just like when it was freshly made. Simply cut the cake into your desired thickness (we recommend ½ inch) and pan fan fry on medium heat with some oil until golden.

If you have leftover already pan fried turnip cake, you can either microwave until heated through or pan fry it again until the outside is crispy and the inside hot.

FAQs

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