Lo Bak Go

Cantonese pan-fried radish cake with dried shrimp and shiitake, golden and crisped in cast iron

Origin: Guangdong Province & Hong Kong, China

From the journey of Radish.

Lo bak go, 蘿蔔糕, radish cake, is one of the defining dishes of the Cantonese dim sum tradition, served in every yum cha restaurant from Hong Kong to Vancouver to London, and made in home kitchens across the Pearl River Delta for the Lunar New Year, where its name is an auspicious homophone for 'good fortune rising'. The dish is a masterwork of Cantonese culinary intelligence: the daikon radish, with its high moisture content, is grated and sautéed to drive off water, then combined with rice flour and aromatics, dried shrimp, shiitake, Chinese sausage, spring onion, and steamed in a loaf tin until set into a firm, sliceable cake. The real cooking happens when the cold cake is sliced thick and pan-fried in a little oil until the exterior is caramelised to a deeply golden, lacy crust while the interior remains soft, creamy, and fragrant with the sweet earthiness of daikon. The contrast of textures, the shattering crust, the yielding interior, is what makes lo bak go memorable rather than merely satisfying. It is eaten dipped in hoisin sauce, sweet soy, or a small dish of XO sauce, with a cup of pu-erh or chrysanthemum tea, in the unhurried ritual of the dim sum meal.

Ingredients

Cake

  • 800 g daikon (white radish), peeled and coarsely grated
  • 200 g rice flour
  • 2 tbsp tapioca starch or cornflour
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • ½ tsp white pepper
  • ½ tsp caster sugar

Aromatics

  • 30 g dried shrimp, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes, then drained and roughly chopped
  • 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes, stems removed, finely diced
  • 1 link lap cheong (Chinese sausage), finely diced (or substitute with 50g diced smoked bacon)
  • 3 spring onions, finely sliced
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil (vegetable or groundnut)

Pan-frying

  • neutral oil, for pan-frying the sliced cake

To Serve

  • hoisin sauce or sweet soy sauce, to serve

Method

  1. Grate the daikon on the large holes of a box grater. Place in a large pan over medium heat with a small splash of water, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10–12 minutes until the daikon is fully softened and most of its moisture has evaporated. Remove from the heat. Measure the daikon and any remaining liquid; you need approximately 600ml of cooked daikon plus liquid combined. Reserve.
  2. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok or frying pan over high heat. Sauté the dried shrimp, shiitake, and lap cheong for 2–3 minutes until fragrant. Add the spring onions and toss for 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the rice flour, tapioca starch, salt, white pepper, and sugar. Add the cooked daikon (with all its cooking liquid) and the sautéed aromatics. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until a thick, uniform batter forms. It should be thick but pourable, like a heavy porridge.
  4. Pour the batter into a lightly oiled 20×10cm (or similar) loaf tin. Smooth the top. Set the tin in a steamer basket over vigorously boiling water, cover tightly, and steam for 45–50 minutes until fully set; a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
  5. Allow the cake to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate uncovered for at least 2 hours (or overnight). The cold cake will be very firm and easy to slice. Turn out of the tin and cut into 1.5cm slices.
  6. To serve: heat a thin layer of neutral oil in a non-stick or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Add the cake slices in a single layer. Cook for 3–4 minutes per side without moving, until each side is deeply golden and caramelised, with a lacy, crisped edge. Serve immediately with hoisin or sweet soy.

Notes

For a vegetarian version, omit the dried shrimp and lap cheong and increase the shiitake to 8 mushrooms. Add a tablespoon of light soy sauce to the batter for savouriness. Lap cheong (Chinese sausage) is available in Asian grocery stores: its sweet, slightly funky character is irreplaceable, but a good smoked pork sausage or smoked bacon diced small is a workable substitute. Lo bak go freezes well after steaming: slice and freeze between layers of parchment, then pan-fry from frozen over medium heat.

The Gastrographer

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