My family never made Cantonese radish cake at home. Every Chinese New Year, we would go out to buy it instead. There was an auntie who showed up once a year near the market and bus station, balancing a small transparent plastic box on the back of her bike. When customers came to order radish cake, taro cake, red bean cake, or water chestnut cake, she would open that magical “Pandora’s box,” carefully slice the cakes inside, and hand them over with practiced ease. Even though we only saw her once a year, she somehow always remembered us. Picking up cakes from her became part of our Lunar New Year ritual.
Now, what I miss isn’t just the cakes, it’s the neighborhood feeling, the familiar faces, and the simple joy of choosing from so many varieties. Store-bought radish cake at the bay often tastes too starchy or lacking that deep savory umami. So I decided to try making it myself. To my surprise, it turned out wonderfully delicious—and the process isn’t complicated at all. It just requires a bit of patience… and quite a lot of chopping.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- cutting radish into thick and thin slices can increase texture variety
- using the water used to soak dried scallop, shrimp, mushroom to mix with flour will increase flavors and umami
- if the flour mixture is too watery, the radish cake might be on the softer end, and more fragile; if the mixture is stickier/heavier, the radish cake would be tighter, more solid. Either texture works, depends on personal preference.
RECIPE
Main ingredients:
- ~2-3 radish, around 1400g radish
- 70g dried shrimp 蝦米
- 70g dried scallop 瑤柱
- 70g dried mushroom 香菇
- 70g Cantonese sausage 臘腸
- 70g Cantonese bacon 臘肉
- 1-2 shallots, minced
Batter:
- 200g rice flour 粘米粉
- 50g wheat starch 澄粉
- (optional) 12g water chestnut flour 馬蹄粉
- 250g water (can use the water soaking dried scallop, shrimp, and shiitake mushrooms)
- if need to make extra batter, it should be 1:1 flour mix to water ratio
Flavoring:
- 2tbsp oyster sauce
- 1tsp salt
- 1.5tsp sugar
- pinch of ground white pepper
STEP 0: put dried shrimp, dried scallop, dried mushroom into a bowl of water to soften them for cutting later
STEP 1: peel radish and cut it into two halves, cut one half into thicker chunks, the other half cut / shred into thin slices; having two different cut can increase variety of texture, similar to having smooth vs coarse red bean paste texture.
STEP 2: mince dried shrimp, dried scallop, dried mushroom, Cantonese sausage, bacon, shiitake mushroom, and shallots, reserve the liquid to make the radish cake batter
STEP 3: mix 200g rice flour, 50g wheat flour (and 12g chestnut flour if available), and 250g water (incl. soaking water), mix well till pattern stays for 1-2 secs in the batter
- The batter and moist from radish will be sufficient to make a moist radish cake
STEP 4: low to medium temperature, in a pan stir fried Cantonese sausage, bacon cubes till oil comes out, then add in mushroom, and shallots, and lastly dried shrimp and scallop (the order how I added them in below is not correct, Cantonese sausage / bacon should be added first because they are most fatty). Transfer all to plate.
STEP 5: in a pan over medium heat, add in think chunks first then thin slices of radish so the thicker chunks are closer to the heat and get softened faster, cover with lid and cook for ~10mins till radish water comes out, or turning transparent. Turn OFF the heat otherwise the radish may be too mushy after the next few steps.
STEP 6: leave some cooked scallop, shrimps, sausage mixture out for plating later, and pour the rest in the pan of radish. Then add in 2tbsp oyster sauce, 2tsp sugar, 1.5tsp salt, pinch of ground white pepper; mix all ingredients well.
STEP 7: whisk the batter as the flour may sink to the bottom. Then pour half of the batter in radish cake ingredients, mix well, and pour the remaining batter in, continue to mix well.
STEP 8: brush steaming containing or deeper dish with oil, then transfer radish cake mixture in container, press down; drizzle the top of radish cake mixture with leftover dried scallop/shrimp/mushroom/sausage/bacon mixture. Steam on boiling water for 40mins
STEP 9: Wait for the radish cake to cool down as it’s easily to de-mold, then cut into slices and pan fry on oil till both sides are crispy and golden! Do not flip too frequently as the cake might break.
READY TO SERVE!
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