Lo Bak Go (Turnip Cake, Radish to Rice Flour)

600 g (about 3 parts)

Daikon radish, peeled and grated — Coarse grate on a box grater; squeeze out excess water and reserve the liquid — both go back into the batter

200 g (about 1 part)

Rice flour (not glutinous) — Plain rice flour only; glutinous rice flour makes an unpleasantly chewy, gluey cake

As needed to reach 500–550 g total liquid

Reserved daikon liquid — Supplement with water or light stock if the daikon was not very juicy; total liquid to flour ratio should be approximately 2.5:1 by weight

50–80 g combined

Dried shrimp, lap cheong, and aromatics — Flavor compounds; do not significantly alter ratio but add moisture — sauté in oil before incorporating

To taste

Salt, sugar, white pepper, sesame oil — Typically 1.5 tsp salt, 0.5 tsp sugar, pinch of white pepper per 200 g rice flour

Grate daikon and cook in a dry pan or with a splash of water until just softened and fragrant, about 5–7 minutes. Drain and reserve all liquid. Whisk rice flour into the cool daikon liquid to form a slurry without lumps. Stir in the warm cooked daikon and any sautéed aromatics. The batter should be thick but pourable — like a heavy pancake batter. Pour into an oiled loaf pan or bamboo steamer tray. Steam over high heat for 40–50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean and the surface is set and slightly translucent at the edges. Cool completely (ideally refrigerate overnight) before slicing into 1-cm slabs. Pan-fry in neutral oil over medium-high heat until deeply golden and crisp on both cut faces.

• Cooking the daikon before mixing it into the batter removes the sharp, raw radish smell and pre-softens the fibers, preventing a watery final cake.
• The reserved cooking liquid is the essential binder liquid — it carries dissolved radish starch that improves the final texture. Never discard it.
• The cake must be fully chilled (minimum 2 hours, preferably overnight) before slicing; attempting to slice while warm yields crumbling, sticky pieces.
• Use a very hot, lightly oiled pan for the final fry; insufficient heat means the cake steams rather than crisps and can disintegrate.
• A ratio test: freshly mixed batter should hold a slow ribbon when poured from a spoon — too stiff means not enough liquid; too runny means too much.
• Lap cheong (Chinese sausage) should be steamed or briefly microwaved before dicing and sautéing to render the fat and prevent hard, chewy pieces in the finished cake.

• XO sauce lo bak go

  Same ratio base; XO sauce added to the aromatics phase and served as a condiment — does not alter the structural ratio

• Chai tow kway (Singapore/Malaysian stir-fried version)

  Cubed rather than sliced; stir-fried with eggs and sweet soy; same base ratio, slightly looser batter acceptable because pieces are smaller and don't need to hold as thin slices

• Plain (white) lo bak go

  No dried shrimp, lap cheong, or scallion; purity of ratio most visible — very common in Hong Kong as a contrast to the savory version

• Turnip cake with taro substitution

  Replace up to 50% of daikon with grated taro; taro is drier and starchier — reduce rice flour by 10–15% to compensate

• Water chestnut cake (ma tai go)

  Related dim sum cake using water chestnut starch instead of rice flour; different ratio but similar technique of slurry + steam + slice + fry

• Turnip Cake Slurry (Liquid to Rice Flour for Dim Sum Cakes)

  The internal liquid-to-flour ratio within the batter itself sits around 2.5:1; this controls gelatinization and final starch set

• Congee (Water to Rice, 8:1 to 12:1)

  Both are Chinese rice-based starched preparations where exact water-to-starch ratios control final body and texture

1. 1.Land of Fish and Rice — Fuchsia Dunlop
2. 2.The Dim Sum Field Guide — Carolyn Phillips
3. 3.All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China — Carolyn Phillips
4. 4.The Hakka Cookbook — Linda Lau Anusasananan

Confidence: high