Daikon cake 蘿蔔糕 (1)

I've been on a daikon roll for a couple of months now. And seeing as the lunar new year is just around the corner, I decided to try making daikon cake, an item commonly eaten at home during the celebrations. This is my first attempt.

Steamed daikon cake

Ingredients

1 daikon, grated (710g)
10 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water overnight (80g)
2 tbsp small dried shrimp, rinsed and patted dry
120g rice flour
3-5 tbsp soaking liquid
¼ tsp pink salt
3 tbsp sha cha sauce, optional
goose fat

Instructions

1. Grate the daikon in a box grater.
   
2. Place the dried shiitake mushrooms in a heatproof bowl and pour hot water to cover. Let soak for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours. Drain mushrooms, rinse lightly under cold running water, and squeeze out excess water. Trim and discard stems and dice caps. Set aside the liquid for later.
3. Set a large pot over medium-high heat and sauté the diced shiitakes and shrimp in goose fat. Transfer everything to a bowl and set aside.
   
4. In the same pot, heat some fat and add the grated daikon. Stir to coat the daikon in fat evenly. Lower the heat to medium, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until daikon is slightly translucent, about 20 minutes. Add the soaking liquid (2-3 tablespoons) if required. Season with salt.
   
5. Add in the mushroom and shrimp and mix through. Stir in the sha cha sauce if using.
   
6. Remove from heat.
7. In 3-4 batches, stir in the rice flour, mixing thoroughly between additions (make sure no traces of flour are left at the bottom or side of the pot). If flour mixture becomes too difficult to stir, stir in 1 tablespoon of the soaking liquid to loosen slightly; the final texture should be sticky and tight.
   

   
8. Preheat the oven to 175°C.
9. Scrape mixture into a lined/greased 9"x4.5"x2" baking tin (or disposable aluminium baking tray).
   

   
10. Cover the tin with aluminium foil. Make sure the entire tin is sealed.
    
11. Place the covered tin on a rack in a roasting tray.
    

    
12. Place the tray in the oven.
13. Pour boiling water into the tray, up to just under the covered tin.
14. Bake/oven steam for 60 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the cake continue to cook in the oven for another 30 minutes.
15. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool before slicing (the cake will firm up when it's cooled sufficiently).
    

    
16. The cake can be served slightly warmed or pan fried and with hot sauce (e.g., sriracha) if desired.  Store the cake in the fridge for up to 2 days.
    

    

The Cantonese style of daikon cake (lo bak go) typically includes Chinese bacon (lap yuk) and sausage (lap cheong). I left them out as I'm not a big fan of these cured meats. And I was delighted with the result of this pure daikon cake! The freshness and sweetness of the daikon really came through. I manage to get the ratio of daikon and rice flour right and it yielded a texture that was just the right amount of sticky and bouncy.