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Cantonese Turnip Cake

  • Chef's Cross Roads
  • Feb 23, 2017
  • 2 min read

Chinese turnip cake is one of the most popular dishes in dim sum and is a must have Chinese New Year dish. Chinese people like to eat”Nian gao” (年糕, Chinese New Year rice cake) during the Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year in 2016 will be held on the 7th February (Chinese New Year's Eve, 除夕).

Nian gao is a very important part of Chinese New Year food traditions. It’s considered good luck to eat nian gao during the Chinese New Year period. Another big tradition during the Chinese New Year is you have to eat foods that have lucky meanings. The pronunciation of “gao” is associated with another Chinese word “高” which means high, higher, tall, taller, greater, better. So eating nian gao has the symbolic meaning of raising oneself taller in each coming year and you will get promoted in your career every year

STANDARD RECIPE

INGREDIENTS UNIT OF MEASURE QUANTITY Part A Rice flour Gm 120 Corn starch Gm 45 Water chestnut Gm 30 Chicken powder Gm 8 Salt Gm 8 Sugar Gm 15 White pepper Gm 0.2 Sesame oil Gm 10 Water Lt 0.16 Part B Turnip Gm 450 Mixed Chinese preserved sausage and cured pork belly Gm 80 Dried shrimp Gm 30 Vegetable oil Lt 0.03 Water Lt 0.37 Chinese parsley Gm 5

Production Method

MISE-EN-PLACE:

  1. Mixed all Part A ingredients well in a big bowl.

  2. Wash the turnip and grate into large strip.

  3. Blanch Chinese sausage and Chinese bacon in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes for cleaning and easy chopping. Drain well and finely diced.

  4. Soak and rinse dried shrimps.

  5. Prepare the roasted corn using a torch/ salamander to char until golden brown.

COOKING/PREPARATION:

  1. Add oil in a wok, sauté the dried shrimp, Chinese sausage and Chinese pork belly d over medium heat.

  2. Sauté until aromatic and set aside.

  3. Add grated turnips in a pot with water. Boil it up and turn off the heat.

  4. Add Part A mixture and stir it well.

  5. The principle is to make the batter thick but not too hard. If you can stir the batter without using any force, the cake would be just right for steaming.

  6. Pour the mixture into a greased pan. Steam over high heat about 75 minutes.

PRESENTATION/SERVICE:

  1. Cut into pieces; fry both sides until golden brown. Serve hot, accompanying with chili sauce.

  2. Top with Chinese parsley.

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