Chinese New Year Radish Cake

While Chinese New Year isn’t complete without an abundant feast of family-style dishes, one versatile sweet that adds festive color to any celebration is the traditional radish cake. They represent good fortune, prosperity and family bonding. In this recipe, I’ll show you how to craft your own bite-sized blessings with a simpler homemade version that deliciously preserves the symbolic promise of new beginnings.

Ingredients

• 650-805g white radish
• 150g glutinous rice flour
• 30g water chestnut flour
• 120g (1.5 Chinese sausage + 1 wax sausage), diced
• 30g dried shrimp
• 10g dried scallops
• 260-280g water (includes water from soaked dried shrimp and scallops, and 50 grams of chicken broth)
• 20g oil
• 8g sesame oil

Sauce

• 3 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tsp fine salt

Now, let’s proceed to the steps:

1. Steam the Chinese sausage and wax sausage (make sure the water covers them completely) for 20 minutes, then drain and chop, set aside.
2. Cut the white radish into diagonal slices and steam for 15 minutes. Soak the dried scallops until softened, then tear them into shreds. Lightly chop the dried shrimp (not to chop them too finely). Set aside.
3. In a pan without oil, sauté the wax sausage and Chinese sausage. Add the dried scallops and dried shrimp, stirring until fragrant. Pour in half of the radish water and continue stirring. Add the oil and sesame oil, and stir again. Let it cool.
4. Sift the glutinous rice flour and water chestnut flour. Grind them into a powder. Add the seasonings and mix well. Gradually add water while stirring until well combined.
5. Add the mixture from step 4 into the cooled radish and ingredient mixture. Stir thoroughly and pour into a container. Steam in an electric steamer for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Tips:

• There’s no need to reserve the dried shrimp for decoration, as they will all blend into the cake. There will be enough ingredients on the surface when pouring it into the container.
• The above measurements are for one radish cake base, but if you’re using a small container, you may be able to make two cake bases.
• After steaming for about 1 hour, there’s a chance you might need to add some water.