Lo Bak Go is a savory dim sum from the Cantonese cuisine. It’s made of grated radish and rice flour. Whether you steam it or bake it, it’s delicious either way. The Chinese traditionally eat this on New Year’s Eve, but it’s also a popular dish during a dim sum lunch. Find out why!
Number of servings: 8
Ingredients:
- 900g radish
- 200g Chinese sausage (lap cheong)
- 3 spring onions
- 50g dried little shrimps
- 30g dried Chinese mushrooms
- 300g rice flour
- Dash of sesame oil
- 1½ tsp Chinese five-spice powder
- 1 Tbsp Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 tsp chicken powder
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp ground white pepper
- 3 tsp sugar
- Vegetable oil
- 1½ cup of water
Dipping sauces:
- Light soy sauce
- Optional: Sriracha chili sauce
Kitchen tools:
- Steamer
- Grater
- Round cake mold (Ø 25 and 5 cm high) or square cake mold (25x25x5), greased
How to make it
Separately soak the dried shrimps for an hour, the dried mushroom for 30 minutes and the radish for 5 minutes in boiling hot water. Drain it. Squeeze the moisture out of the radish, shrimps and mushrooms, capture the moisture in a mid-sized bowl. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and slice the rest up into fine pieces. Peel the radish and grate it. Put the moisture, shrimps, mushrooms and radish aside.
Fill the steamer with a layer of water and bring it to a boil. Place the sausages on a plate and put it on a steam rack in the steamer. Steam for 10 minutes on low heat until done. Drain the steamer. Cut the sausages into little cubes. Heat oil in a wok pan on high heat. Stir-fry the sausage for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and shrimps. After 2 minutes, add spring onions, sugar, cooking wine and pepper. Stir-fry for another 1 minute. Add a dash of sesame oil, scoop everything into a bowl and put it aside.
Add the radish and ½ cup of water in the wok and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat back to medium high. Boil the rettich until it’s soft and until the moisture has evaporated. Add 5-spice powder, salt and chicken powder and stir well.
Mix the rice flour and the leftover water in a big bowl. Add the radish, sausages, mushrooms, shrimps and spring onions. Add 500ml of the moisture. Pour the batter into the cake mold.
Fill the steamer with water and bring it to a boil. Put the cake mold on a steam rack. Steam the radish cake for 1½ hour with lid. Continue to add water to the steamer, if the water has evaporated. When the cake is done, take it out of the pan. Cover it with foil and let it cool off for an hour. Then put it in the fridge for one night.
How to serve it
Use a knife to separate the cake from the sides of the cake mold. Hold it upside down above a cutting board, so the cake comes off. Cut the cake into slices of approximately 5x5x1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Bake the cake until it’s crispy and golden brown, approximately 5 minutes per side. Serve it on a plate, together with some soy sauce and/or chili sauce.
Keep the cake in the fridge and finish it within a week.