With Gustave Lorentz Gewurztraminer Réserve, 2021
"Finding the golden ratio is the key to perfect CNY radish cake."
My mum used to make radish cake every Chinese New Year and she always let me help her. I enjoyed so much this mummy-and-daughter cooking time when I was small. My favourite task is the mix the flour with water. I loved watching the rice flour melted into the water and formed a smooth "rice flour milk", as I used to call it. My mum is the type of master home chef that she doesn't need any recipes to cook, but she still managed to have the perfect ratio between flour and water for her radish cake every year.
I have been attempting radish cakes since I moved to Europe. I tried multiple recipes and everyone says they have the golden ratio of flour and liquid. But I just couldn't get it right until one day I realised that the paste of the radish cake is quite similar to baking or making Béchamel sauce. This is how I developed this radish cake recipe where you don't have to worry about the ratio but you can still make the perfect radish cake.
CNY Radish Cake
For 8" cake tin
Ingredients:
170g rice flour (粘米粉)
20g corn starch flour (粟粉)
20g wheat starch flour (澄麵)
1kg white radish (白蘿蔔), peeled and grated
2 Chinese cured sausages, diced (臘腸)
2 large dried shitake mushrooms or 4 small ones (花菇), soaked and softened for at least one hour, diced. Save the soaking water for later
1 one table spoon dried shrimp (蝦米), soaked and softened. Save the soaking water for later
1 diced spring onion, sliced, for garnish
Toasted sesame, for garnish
150ml cold water (or water from soaking shitake mushroom and dried shrimps)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 shallot, chopped
Method:
Mix the flour in a large bowl
Heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil in high heat in a wok or a large sauté pan, add the shallot and stir fry until it softens but not brown; add the white radish and a bit of white grounded white pepper, stir fry until it releases its juice; add the soaking water or cold water. Cook with lid on for 30mins or until the white radish slices are soft.
Meanwhile, add the diced sausage to a cold dry frying pan. Fry in medium heat until it releases its oil. Add the shitake mushroom and dried shrimp until they release their flavours. Remove from the heat and set aside
When the radish slices are ready, switch off the heat and rest for few minutes. Add the flour gradually to the softened radish, keep stir frying until you have a thick paste. You don’t have to add all the flour if the ideal consistency is reached
Add the sausage, shitake mushroom and shrimp to the radish paste and mix well
Oil the cake tin and pour in the mixture. Steam for 45-60 minutes. Test it with a wooden chopstick by dipping it in. if the chopstick comes out clear it is done
Tips:
The traditional way of making white radish cake is that you add the water to the flour; instead of adding the water to the white radish. However, it is difficult to get the best consistency because white radish releases a lot of liquid from cooking, yet the amount of liquid released quite often varies, making the flour paste either too watery or too hard.
In this recipe, I add the water to the white radish and add the flour to the radish after it is cooked. This way, we know how much water the radish releases and it is easier to control the consistency.
Wine pairing:
I paired this steamed radish cake with a glass of Alsace Gewürztraminer based on both the contrasting and matching approach. The floral/rose characteristics go well with the distinctive mild sweet peppery taste of the white radish. The wine also has a touch of ginger taste which enhances the very umami cured Chinese sausage and dried shitake mushroom. Since the acidity of gewürztraminer is not too high, it balances well with this light flavoured steamed dish.
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