Comments on: Chinese Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Go, 萝卜糕)

By: Claire Szeto

Claire Szeto — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 10:34:49 +0000

sorry, I could not add more stars because I am natively cantonese and my popo’s recipe is better, but I wanted to leave some tips in the prepping for serving. the reason you may be having trouble slicing is that we generally do not slice it off a loaf, but cut it in the pan. at home, we also dip the slices in beaten egg, which helps it stay together better while frying. I can also note that in homes, we have much more ‘filling’ proportional to the more pasty one at dim sum places. the extra filling could be ground pork or chicken thigh, pre seasoned before frying, then mixed in.

By: Maggie Zhu

Maggie Zhu — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 17:57:05 +0000

In reply to M. I'm so happy to hear the recipe worked out for you! Thanks so much for reporting back and leaving a thorough review :)

By: M

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 17:11:32 +0000

In reply to Maggie Zhu.

It was great! I thing I could have put less oil and heat up the cooking pan more for the last step, but I know with a bit of practice it will be perfect very soon!!! A bit softer then at Dim Sum but my husband and I both like it as much that way. We live hours from the nearest Dim Sum place and the other side of the country from his family so we cherish every dish that we (well, I 😛 😛 ) can cook that keep us close to his chinese heritage. Thank you so much! With a bit of chrisantimum tea, dumplings, boas, hakka noodles or jook, we can have a nice Dim Sum at home anytime we want! 😀

By: Maggie Zhu

Maggie Zhu — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 03:30:05 +0000

In reply to M.

No worries! Yeah I think the texture of turnip is quite different and using daikon will help a lot. This is recipe has a very wet batter and the cake will be very soft once steamed, but it will form after refrigeration.
Happy cooking and I’m looking forward to hearing your result 🙂

By: M

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 03:22:03 +0000

In reply to Maggie Zhu. In fact, it was the opposite! It was dry, like eating saw dust. :( But that other recipe did not mention daïkon, just ''turnip'' so maybe the texture difference was due to that. I actually love when they are a bit soggy. :) I hope the use of the daïkon and of your recipe (you offer more details) will give a better result! Fingers cross! (sorry if my English is a bit weird, it's not my first language)

By: Maggie Zhu

Maggie Zhu — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 20:18:18 +0000

In reply to M.

Sorry to hear that your cooking result was not as expected.
I think it’s totally OK to skip the dried shrimps. It won’t affect that texture and the taste too much, since the sausage will have a stronger taste.
Not sure what you mean by the bad result, but I assume is the steamed turnip cake it too mushy?
In this recipe I did use a lot of liquid, so at the end the lo bak go will have a very tender texture. But I have received comments on the steamed mixture being too soft.
What was causing the issue might be the daikon radish. If the radish is young and very juicy, it might keep releasing water during the steaming process, and causes the batter to be too thin.
If that was the case for you, I would either result the water amount (try reduce the water by 1/4 cup), or increase the rice flour (by 1/4 cup).

By: M

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 19:32:34 +0000

For the second time, I’ll try to cook lo bak go… last time was NOT a success. At. All. It was… terrible. I don’t think it was a bad recipe (good reviews) but maybe I’ve missed something that other blogger wrote.
Since I’ve always had good results with other recipes of yours, I’ve decide to give it a try in the next few days (in the hope of make a batch for Chinese New Year). But I do have a question first! The lo bak go I had in the past (restaurants) never included shellfish and I loved them! So I know it can be done. We are a couple of people around the table that are allergic to shellfish so no shrimps for us. Should I add more sausages to compensate? Would it mess with the texture if I just cut out the shrimps? Thanks for your great work! A couple of your recipes are now in my everyday favourites!

By: Elly

Elly — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 16:13:10 +0000

I bought the wrong daikon. I did not realize there is a photo of daikon that comes with the recipe. Mine is a little green, and it turned out bitter. I bought it from Ranch99, I thought that would be the right one. Next time, I’ll pay more attention.

By: Andrea C.

Andrea C. — Sun, 01 May 2022 21:30:52 +0000

Hello! Has anyone had success with making the batter ahead of time and then steaming the next day? Maybe best to re-warm the batter before going into the steamer? Thanks for any insight!

By: Maggie Zhu

Maggie Zhu — Sat, 05 Feb 2022 19:35:41 +0000

In reply to Ling.

I think it’s probably caused by the radish not being cooked enough to release enough liquid. The cake batter in this recipe is boardline too thin, so it will yield a super tender texture, but it does cause issues if the radish is not cooked enough. I think next time you can cook the radish a bit more, to make sure all the liquid evaporate complete. I’m afraid it’s very hard to save the batch you’ve made…