White Radish Cakes (Luo Bo Gao)

Ingredients:

• 3 white radish (other names: chinese radish/ turnip or daikon) ~ 1.75kg for this time
• 350g white rice flour (粘 米 粉)
• white radish : white rice flour (5:1)
• chinese sausages (mix of pork ones and the duck liver ones, usually available only in Winter

• dried chinese mushrooms or shaiiake mushrooms
• dried scallops
• dried shrimps (optional)
• handul of shallots
• a bunch of coriander
• approx 350ml chicken stock
• 2 -3 tbsp corn starch dissolved in little cold water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• pinches of white pepper

Method:

1. Hydrate the dried scallops, dried mushrooms and shrimps in separate bowls of hot water for a few hours, finely chopped
2. Cut the chinese sausages into thin slices or small cubes (both are fine either way)
3. Finely chopped the shallots
4. Separate the leaves and stalks of the coriander, cut the stalks into small pieces
5. Coarsely grate the white radish, set aside
6. Heat up a wok or frying pan at medium high heat, add in the chinese sausages, stir-frying  for a few minutes, you will see some oil will come out from the sausages (like the bacon), you can then gradually add in shallots, mushrooms, scallops and shrimps, keep stir frying them for a few minutes until they are semi-cooked.
7. Boil the chicken stock  in a deep pan of another wok if you have available, and add in the grated radish, keep stirring and cook until the radish is soft and transparent.
8. Stirred in the chinese sausages mixture and coriander stalks into the cooked radish.
9. Turn off the heat, wait for a while about 5-10 mins, and pour in the rice flour and corn starch, keep stirring and then add in the salt, pepper, sugar. By this time, you will result to have a half cooked thick paste. Funny enough the rice flour can dissolve directly to the mixture without pre-dissolved in water but do prepare some cold water aside to adjust the paste where necessary, this part is the most important to get a correct consistency.
10. Generously oil 2 baking tins and transfer the paste mixture to cake baking tins (you can use the disposable aluminium ones too)
11. Steam each tin/ tray for an hour at high heat first, when the water is boiling turn to medium heat.
12. When it is cooked, remove from heat and sprinkle the coriander leaves on top as garnish.
13. Let the cakes to cool down completely before turning them to large plates.
14. Cut into slices and panfry until slight brown and crispy on the outside.  Serve with XO sauce or chili sauce if preferred.
15. You can also cut a portion in small cubes and stir fry with some bean sprounts XO sauce, I learnt it from the restaurant served as a contemporary dim sum.
16. Alternatively, if you want the panfried ones too heavy, I like cutting big cube and reheat by steaming it and pour a little dark soy sauce on it.

Note:

Step 9 is very critical and was where we did wrong, we were worried that the rice flour would not dissolve properly and thicken to a paste, so we heated it up again and all of a sudden we discovered that it was beginning to burn. And when I talked to my dad, this was almost the first thing he asked if I have done. I wish I had talked to him beforehand but luckily we solved this by not stirring too hard to the bottom.