Turnip Cake 羅白糕

Ingredients:

Grated turnip (after draining the water from turnip) - approx 1300g (will most likely take 1 to 2 big turnips)
Thick sliced turnip - around 400-500g

李祥和 powder - 300 g (half a bag)

2 pc of canada sausage **

5 pc of dried scallops **

ginger and garlic

chicken powder **

fresh sesame

a round tin, brush with "ginger garlic" oil. See below

Big steamer (if possible)

** For Vegetarian version, just skip these ingredients.

How to make:
1. On the night before you cook this turnip cake, wash 5 pc of dried scallops and soak them in 2 cups of water overnight.

2. On the day you cook this turnip cake, drain the dried scallops and keep the water for later use. Steam the dried scallops for approx 60 min (or till soft). Then tear them into thread like pieces, discarding the hard bits. Keep aside.

4. Peel turnip skin, then grate the turnip until it reaches 1300g discarding the turnip water. Then cut some thick turnip slices around 400-500g. Then blanch in boiling water for around 10 minutes to make these thick slices softer first.

5. Prepare a 8-10 pc of ginger and a bunch of pressed garlic.

6. Steam the chinese sausage for 30 min, then cut into into small pieces but not too minced.

7. Mix the powder with 300ml water and use your fingers to mix them, making sure no lumps inside. Keep aside this starch solution.

8. When you are ready to cook, drain water from turnip slices. Check if there are 2 to 2.5 cups of water from the soaked scallops and if not, add the turnip water to make them to 2 to 2.5 cups together.

9. Heat up a big wok and add oil, then add ginger and garlic, till they are golden in color. Remove the ginger and garlic. Pour away most of this ginger garlic oil to a bowl and save just a little on the ok.

10. Add chinese sausage to the wok and stirred fried a bit, then remove to a bowl.

11. Add back a little bit of the ginger garlic oil to the wok, then add the dried scallops, stir fried a bit, then removed the dried scallops to a bowl.

12. Add some more ginger garlic oil to the wok and add the turnip thick slices, then the shredded slices (some at a time until) and stir fried until all is soft and evenly soaked with the oil, then add back all the chinese sausages and dried scallops and mix well.

13. Then add the 2 to 2.5 cups of the scallops/turnip water and mix well with all ingredients, then add 3 tsp of chicken powder and check taste. Cover the pan and let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Once boiled, remove cover, then add the powder solution and mix quickly with the turnip mixture in a one-direction quick movement, until all are mixed well. At first, you still need the big fire, after stirring a bit, you can reduce fire to medium. Ensure the whole mixture is evenly cooked and mixed well.

14. Pour the mixture to a round tin, then wear a disposable glove and use your palm to mix them well into the tin so that the top is flat and nice. But don't press too hard.

15. Cover the tin with microwave cling wrap and steam for 45 min (preferably in a big steamer as they are better to avoid the water condensation which will make the turnip cake too moist).

16. Once turnip cake is steamed, take out and cooled down. In the meantime, toast the fresh sesame seeds in a pan until golden, then sprinkle on top of turnip cake, wrap with plastic and store in fridge.

Best served with XO sauce and soy sauce with cooked oil!

* reason why ginger garlic oil is used to stir fried to grated turnip is to reduce the "coolness" of the turnip. But by so doing, it will reduce the fragrance or taste of the turnip itself as ginger/garlic taste is much stronger. If if you prefer stronger taste of turnip, you can opt out the garlic/ginger oil and just use normal corn oil.

* when you cut the turnip cake into small pieces for pan fry, pls remember to coat them with corn starch in a thin layer and shake off excess starch before frying.

Enjoy~