Chinese Turnip Cake Recipe (with Video)

Prepare the ingredients
1. In a bowl, soak dried shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimp in 2 cups hot water. Cover.
2. In the meantime, prepare the aromatics and cured meats.
3. Peel the turnip. If it’s not fresh, peel a bit deeper. Shred half the turnip with a grater (the one with larger holes), then slice the other half into small matchsticks or cubes.
4. Once shiitakes and shrimp are rehydrated (20-30 min), squeeze out the water, remove stems, and finely dice. Save the mushroom soaking liquid.
5. To a measuring cup, add the mushroom soaking liquid, and fill it to 2.5 cups total with additional water. We’ll be cooking the turnips in this later.
6. To make the flour mixture, mix the rice flour, cornstarch, and 2 cups room temp or cold water.
Cook the ingredients
1. In a large nonstick pan or wok on medium heat, add 2 tbsp neutral oil. Once warm, add the aromatics and dried shrimp. Stir fry for 1-2 min, then add the cured meats and shiitakes. Stir fry for another 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Remove everything from the pan and set aside.
2. Add all of the turnip and the 2.5 cups of mushroom liquid + water. Increase the heat to bring it up to a boil. Add salt, white pepper, chicken powder, sugar, and sesame oil. Cook for 4-6 minutes or until the turnip turns from opaque to translucent (you can also taste one of the matchsticks to be sure it’s cooked through — it should be fork tender but not mushy).
3. Add back the stir-fried cured meats and aromatics, but leave about 1/3 cup to top the turnip cake with. Mix well.
4. Give the flour + cornstarch mixture a stir to ensure there are no lumps, then add it in 2-3 batches, mixing it very thoroughly with each addition. Once all the mixture has been incorporated, turn off the heat. The turnip mixture should be thick (like thick mashed potatoes), not runny, and sticky.
Steam the turnip cake
1. Lightly grease two 6-inch round cake pans (springform works best) or 1 large pan with oil. Make sure it’s a pan that you can fit in your pan or steamer with the lid on.
2. Fill the pans with the turnip cake, pressing down lightly to remove any air pockets. The turnip cake should be about 2-3 inches tall. With the back of a wet spatula, smooth down the top. Top the cake with the leftover stir-fried cured meats and aromatics.
3. Steam for 45-60 min, depending on the height of your turnip cake (the taller the cake, the longer it needs to steam). Once a chopstick pokes through cleanly, it’s ready!
4. Top with cilantro, scallion greens, and sesame seeds. Let the cake cool before enjoying. For best results, put the cake into the fridge for at least 2 hours to let it firm up, slice into squares, and pan fry with a bit of neutral oil on both sides until golden brown.