One of my fantasies is to become a master dim sum chef. One day, I will move to Hong Kong and do a traditional 8 year apprenticeship, learning every type of dough, every way to fold a dumpling, and become of master of teas as well. One day…right after I become a master sushi chef.
When I saw Luo Bo Gao (Daikon Radish Cakes), a dim sum classic, on Asian Dumpling Tips ( a wonderful site by cookbook author Andrea Nguyen), I was happily surprised by how easy the recipe looked. It seemed like the perfect starter dish to learning dim sum.
As it seemed, it was pretty easy, and it solved two problems I have with Luo Bo Gau when I get it at restaurants. Most of the time, restaurants are skimpy with the sausage and dried shrimp. They are probably trying to keep the costs down because dim sum is pretty cheap, but once you have it with more sausage and dried shrimp, you may be reluctant to order the skimpy ones again. Secondly, they never seem fried enough. I like it when the edges get really crispy and if you make it yourself, you can control how crispy they are, or you can eat them just steamed if you want to cut down on fat and calories. It’s yours to control.
This recipe uses two 9″ round cake pans, which makes sense because that is what will fit in most steamers or large pots, but if I can find a way next time, I’ll try it in a square or rectangular pan. This is purely aesthetic, and only because I’m used to seeing them served as rectangles.
Luo Bo Gao (Daikon Radish Cakes)
~adapted from Wai Chu’s recipe posted on Asian Dumpling Tips
~about 8 servings
- 1 rounded tablespoon small dried shrimp
- 2 cups white rice flour
- 1/4 cup wheat starch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
- 1 pound daikon radish
- 2/3 cup finely chopped Chinese pork sausage
- 3 scallion, finely chopped
- vegetable or grapeseed oil
- oyster sauce and/or hot sauce to serve
Instructions –
1. Place dried shrimp in a small bowl and cover with hot water. Soak for 30 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine rice flour, wheat starch, salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Drain and finely chop the shrimp.
4. Peel the daikon and grate through small holes of box grater onto a clean kitchen towl. Squeeze as much liquid as you can into a measuring cup. Measure the daikon juice and add enough water to make it 3 1/2 cups of liquid.
5. Put the liquid in a pot and add grated daikon. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, and reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes. Add sausage, scallion, and shrimp, cover and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from the heat. Slowly add the rice flour/wheat starch mixture while whisking to break any large lumps. The batter will still be sticky and lumpy.
6. Set up a steamer and boil the water.
7. Brush two 9″ round cake pans with vegetable or grapeseed oil. Divide the batter into the two pans. Dip a spoon into cool water and use the back to smooth the surface. (I found it to be very sticky and had to wash the spoon several times in between.)
8. Steam the cake pans, covered, for 40 minutes. You can either do both at the same time in two separate steamers or steam one and leave the second one in room temperature, steaming it after the first is done.
9. Be careful when removing the cake pans after they are done steaming. Set them on the counter to cool to room temperature.
10. Un-mold onto a cutting board and cut into desired pieces. Fry them on medium high heat in oil, until crispy and browned, about 4 minutes on each side. Serve with oyster and/or hot sauce.
Make-Ahead
After you steam and cool the Luo Bo Gau to room temperature, do not cut. Wrap it in plastic and keep refrigerated until ready to use, up to three days.
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Your Luo Bo Gau looks yum!
Oh btw, you’ll move to Hong Kong? WOW, I hope you’ll be able to tackle the weather here! Good luck.
this looks better then the version had at dim sum recently!
This looks great! I want to try a vegan version of it! It looks like tofu.
KennyT, it’s more a far off dream, but weather would not be a problem for me.
Thanks ravenouscouple! It’s cause you can see all the sausage and drie shrimp right?
Veggie Wedgie, it’s not at all like tofu, but I imagine you can do a vegan version if you sub the sausage and shrimp with some shitake mushroom.
I love Lou Bo Gao very much and always order them in dim sum restaurants.
I had the same thinking and love to learn how to make all types of delicious dim sum.
Turnip cake is real easy to make but I hate the smell while it’s steaming. It made the whole house smell like fart -=X lols My dad used to make it all the time and my mom makes extra batches for chinese new years.
haha Wonders, it did made my towel smell. =/ The smells during steaming didn’t bother me though.
It looks so delicious but tedious to make. I don’t think I can ever make something like this.
m impressed!! A delightful dish! Comforting and really tasty!
Wow, I am super impressed! That actually looks like it’s a lot of work. I think I agree with Emi, I’m not sure if I would have the patience to try this at home! 🙂
This looks delicious. I have tried this recipe, but substituted
the Chinese sausage with Chinese bacon(did not use the fat). Depend upon what one prefer, the Chinese sausage have a sweet taste to it. IMHO, the Chinese bacon goes well with the soy sauce and chili when you eat them all together.
Lately I’ve been craving these radish cakes. I think it’s because I saw your version, so delicious-looking like that!
Oh, one question: what is wheat starch?
JS, wheat starch is a powdery starch made from wheat kernels. It’s like cornstarch but not as strong of a thickener.
I’ve recently started a site, and the information you offer on this website has helped me a lot. Thanks for all of your time & work.
Hi,
I wonder if you can boil the daikon and then mix it instead of grating and squeezing… what do you think?!
Thank you!
I don’t know Adrien. If you try it, let me know if it works…