Daikon Radish cake is a delicious dim sum dish also known as Lo Bak Gou in Cantonese or Luo Bo Gao (萝卜糕, Luó bo gāo) in Mandarin. You can serve the steamed version as-is or refrigerate to make it into a stir-fry dish as shown below.
Daikon Radish, Daikon for short, is a common root vegetable that my family likes to use for soups, stuffing for buns, stews, or simply preserve with salt and add as a way to season dishes.
My late grandma loved to serve the preserved radish with a simple bowl of plain porridge or chop them up to be used as salt to season her dishes.
Today, I am sharing an easy Daikon radish cake that you can serve right after steaming or turn into a classic dim sum dish. It is called Stir-fried Daikon cake or also known as Turnip cake but it’s not made from a turnip.
In Malaysia, we have a similar version but darker in color and is called Char Kuey Kak, which is a Hokkien word. The main difference is that the latter has no daikon radish in the cake but instead, it’s seasoned with chopped preserved radish. If you asked me, I like both and never want to miss an opportunity to add more veggies to a meal.
There are other varieties of this cake in Malaysia which include taro and pumpkin. If you have tried some of these, let me know which one you like the best. But for now, let’s see how to make this delicious and simple recipe with the steps below.
How to make Daikon Radish Cake (Lo Bak Gou)
First, clean and peel off the Daikon’s skin, then shred into ribbons using a mandolin. If you enjoy carrots, like me, add them to the mix as well.
Then, prepare the batter by mixing the rice flour, salt, and water in a bowl until well-combined.
Place shredded Daikon and carrot in a heated non-stick pan with oil and cook by stirring continuously to remove as much moisture as possible. My mom likes to add a small rock of sugar in this step to remove the Daikon’s bitterness. I personally love the Daikon’s taste and never thought it was bitter.
Cook until all water has evaporated
Add in the batter and stir to cook it down into a thick paste.
Then, transfer the batter to a heat-safe bowl or loaf pan. Press down the mixture to remove air bubbles so you’ll get a firm texture after steaming.
Here you can wrap the bowl or pan with aluminum foil or cover it with a heat-safe wrapper to avoid the water condensation from steaming. Some readers mentioned this works perfectly to avoid additional moisture from the steaming which can sometimes turn it into a mushy cake.
Steam for about 30 minutes over high heat. Test the batter using a cake tester or fork.
If the cake tester comes out clean, then the cake is ready. You can serve it steamed Daikon cake once it’s cooled down. I normally pair it with chili or hoisin sauce. Once steamed, let it cool down completely before serving.
You can also refrigerate it to harden it for this recipe. When ready, loosen the side of the cake with a sharp knife. Then, turn it over onto a cleaned chopping board and cut it into bite-sized cubes.
Pan-fry these cake cubes until golden brown on all sides and set aside until ready to use.
Using the same pan, add a little more oil and sauté garlic and preserved radish until fragrant. Chili sauce is optional so adjust the spicy level accordingly.
Return cake cubes back into the pan and season with soy sauce. If you prefer more color, season with a tad bit of dark soy sauce.
Finally, toss in the veggies and cook until the veggies are tender. Turn off the heat and serve warm.
Cooking Tips
- The cake will continue to harden when cooled. You may refrigerate so it’s easier to slice in pieces the next day.
- If your Daikon radish has lots of moisture, reduce the amount of water in the batter. The daikon and batter mixture should be on the thicker side after cooking.
- Cover the loaf pan that has the mixture with foil to prevent additional moisture from the steam. Since I prefer mine to be a bit on the softer side, I skipped this step.
- Grease the cutting knife so it’s easier for you to cut the cake into cubes.
Other options
- Rutabaga – Shredded Rutabaga taste so good in this recipe. I would use 1-2 medium-sized rutabaga and use a little more oil when you sauté them with carrot.
- Pumpkin or Taro – Steamed pumpkin or taro is a great option in this recipe.
This Stir-fried Daikon cake (Lo Bak Gou) is
- Easy to make
- Customizable; opt for gluten-free sauces
- Tasty even after steaming
- Vegan
- Perfect as a meal or savory morning treat
- Delicious
Check out my other Gluten-free recipes
If you try this recipe, I would love to hear your feedback and see your beautiful re-creation. Leave me a comment, rate it, and tag @woon.heng and #woonheng to your photos on Instagram or Facebook. Happy cooking, friends!
Stir-fried Daikon Radish Cake (Lo Bak Gou) ‘萝卜糕’
Equipment
- Steamer rack
Ingredients
- 400-500 g shredded Daikon radish
- 1 small carrot shredded (about ½ cup)
- 1 cup fresh mung bean sprouts
- ¼ cup chopped Chinese chives
- 1 tablespoon preserved radish
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- 2 teaspoons sambal oelek optional
- 1 tablespoon gluten-free soy sauce
- a few shakes of white pepper
- oil for cooking
- salt to taste
Batter
- 1⅓ cup [210g] rice flour used Thai rice flour
- 2 cups room temperature water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper plus more to taste
Instructions
How to make Daikon Radish cake
- Shred Daikon radish and carrot into a bowl and set aside.
- To make the batter, mix flour, water, and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl until all incorporated
- In a heated non-stick pan, cook shredded Daikon radish and carrot until the daikon turns translucent and all water has evaporated over low-med heat. (See Notes)
- Turn heat to low, add in the batter, then continue to cook while stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. All Daikon radish should be covered with batter. Season with salt and pepper.
- Then, transfer the mixture into a 9X5 non-stick loaf pan and cover it with foil, if needed.
- Place the loaf pan on the inner steamer rack and steam over high heat for about 30 minutes. The cake may look sticky at first.
- Let the cake cool down completely/refrigerate overnight before cutting it. This savory cake can be served as-is at this point.
How to Stir-fry Daikon Radish Cake
- To make the stir-fried version, loosen the cake with a knife and transfer it onto a cleaned chopping board. Then, slice cake into bite-sized cubes.
- In a heated non-stick pan with oil, pan-fry cake cubes until golden brown on all sides. Transfer to a bowl until ready to use.
- Using the same pan, add a little more oil and sauté garlic and preserved radish until fragrant.
- Add in the chili sauce, if using, or skip for a non-spicy version.
- Add the cake cubes back into the pan and season with soy sauce.
- Finally add the veggies and give it a toss to combine. Cook until veggies are slightly tender.
- Serve warm with a side of chili sauce or as-is.
Video
Notes
- The Daikon radish should be moist but not too wet. If your daikon has lots of water content, reduce the water needed in the batter.
- Once it’s steamed, the top of the cake may seem watery. As long as the fork has no dry flour, the cake is ready, and let it cool completely.
Feel free to pin the below picture on your Pinterest Board for easy reference.
Wonderful recipe, Ms. Heng! We’ve made this twice now, and it’ a winner and a regular contributing dish in our household. Thank you for this recipe!
Hi! I love your recipes! They’re super simple and remind me of Singapore, where I grew up! Just wondering, is there a way to change this recipe to make vegan black carrot cake (the one found in hawker centres?)
Hey Parveen, you can use this recipe for that. The difference is that you’ll pan-fry the cake (after you cut into cubes) with more dark soy sauce to get the color and crispiness. Then, you can add chai po, a little garlic and soy sauce when stir-frying. Add the taugeh the last.
Love your tips on frying the cubed daikon before mixing everything up to give it colour.Going to do it for breakfast.Thanks for your recipe
calories?
Hi Becca, I don’t have any, but feel free to use calorie app with the recipe. Let me know if you need anything else. Best, WoonHeng
Hello! For this recipe you use regular rice flour, not glutinous rice flour, is that correct?
Thanks so much, I’ve really been enjoying your recipes lately! 🙂
Hey Misha, it’s regular rice flour. Thanks a lot and please be sure to cover the pan filled with cooked daikon before you steam it too. It will look soft but once it’s cooled down, they are ready. :0) Have a great day!
Best, WoonHeng
Thanks so much! I can’t wait to give it a try. 🙂
Thanks Misha!❤️
I love this recipe. It was my first time trying it out & it was perfect!!!
Thank you so much Dianna, I love how yours turned out. They looked perfect and YUMMY! Thanks again for trying this recipe. xoxo. Best, WoonHeng
Hi,
I absolutely love your recipes. Thanks for posting them.
I don’t have any rice flour on hand, can I use a different flour?
Thank you!
Thank you Margaret. 🙂 If you don’t have rice flour and have a powerful blender, you can blend raw rice into powder. 🙂 I haven’t tried with other types of flour before so I can’t comment on that yet. Hope this helps and let me know how it goes. Happy cooking! Best, WoonHeng
This looked soooo good but basically just took a lot of time and made a huge mess in my kitchen with the result being an inedible mush. 🙁 🙁 🙁 I pressed and cooked as much water out of the daikon as I possibly could, and I cooked the cakes for 90 minutes. They weren’t solid at all; they had the consistency of melted cheese. I gave up at that point.
Hello Cat, thanks a lot for your feedback. Sorry this didn’t work out for you. The cake shouldn’t take steam for longer than 30 minutes. When you steam next time, you can cover the pan filled with cooked radish to avoid the water condensation during steaming. The cake will usually be more solid once it’s completely cool down. Hope that helps.
Hi! I’m going to make this recipe tomorrow and just want to clarify one step: When I put the radish/flour mixture in the pan and cover with foil do I also put a lid on the pot that I’m steaming the mixture in? Thanks in advance! This looks so yummy I can’t wait to taste it!
Hello Lori, yes, you’ll need to cover your pan with a lid. So, basically, you’ll fill a pan A with the radish/flour mixture, then fill a pot (that can fit pan A) with water. Cover pan A with foil, then place that in the pot. Usually, I place a small saucer or dipping bowl to support this pan A while steaming. Hope that helps. Also, please be sure to wait for it to completely cool down before cutting it. It will look sticky when it’s hot. Thanks.
Ok I get that I have to cover Pan A with foil, what I’m wondering is if I need to cover Pan B with a lid during the steaming process. Thanks!
Yes, Lori, you need to cover pan B, apologies that previous message wasn’t clear. Thanks
Hi. I love the blog and the recipe but I don’t have any preserved radish handy. What would you replace it with if no time to go to the grocery store? Thanks
Hi Zineb, yes, you are right, it doesn’t come in handy. I would skip that and adjust the soy sauce accordingly. Hope that helps. Best, WoonHeng
Thank you! I made it then and adjusted the sauce as you suggested. I used garlic, chili garlic hot sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce and to finish some sesame oil and it was delicious. Making it again today! Thank you for these amazing recipes and Happy Lunar Year.
That’s awesome, thanks so much and so glad you loved it. Hope you give my other recipes a try too. Happy Lunar New Year. best, WoonHeng
Hello! Just bought a daikon and can’t wait to try this recipe ^.^
Any tips for how to steam without the special steam pan? Might there be a way to steam this in the oven – maybe sitting in a larger baking dish filled with water?
Hey Christina, yay, awesome. Here is what you can (which I do most often when I don’t want to wash that big steamer) – Use a large pan that has lid, then place something to support a plate or shallow bowl. Fill that shallow bowl with your cooked mixture and steam that way. I know some have tried with the oven steaming method, but I haven’t tried it. Let me know if you have any questions at all. Also, be sure to cover your bowl filled with the cooked mixture with a foil or something to avoid the water condensation from dripping back to the cake. Happy cooking. Best, WoonHeng
I will try to make please can you le time know where to buy the grater? Radish is very healthy 🙏
Hi there, I got that a long time ago and it’s a very generic brand. I think most mandolin that comes with a grate will work. Hope that helps. 🙂
IDK why it just isn’t working for me,, I steamed and steamed for almost 2 hours (╥_╥)(╥_╥)(╥_╥)(╥_╥)(╥_╥)(╥_╥) still seems so raw,, will it cook through if I fry it later?
Hi Dee, thanks for your feedback. 2 hours of steaming is more than enough and it’s fully cooked through. Did you cover it with something when steaming? sometimes the water condensation from steaming will turn it into a mushy cake. Also, be sure to cook it into a paste before adding to your steaming pan. I also waited until it’s completely cooled down before removing it as that will harden it. Hope that helps.
Can you freeze the radish cake after it’s been steamed?
Hi there, that’s a good idea, should be great! I would probably slice it first then freeze, that way you don’t need to thaw when you pan fry it over heat when you are ready to eat them. Happy cooking! Best, WH
Thanks for your reply! That’s exactly what I was thinking. I was just worried that the texture might change after freezing. I will let you know if I try.
No problem, and good luck to you! 🙂