Advertisement
Advertisement
Lunar New Year
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Loh bok goh with XO sauce.

Lunar New Year cakes - great with XO sauce or even kimchi

Susan Jung

Loh bok goh is a snack I never tire of, even though I've been eating a lot of it lately. It's one of the many types of "goh" (so-called pudding cakes) that are consumed during the Lunar New Year celebrations, because they're said to bring good fortune.

Loh bok goh is also known as steamed turnip (or radish) cake. It's made by grating a large Chinese white radish, simmering it until tender, then mixing in rice flour, seasonings (including salt and ground white pepper), sautéed Chinese sausages (cut into small pieces), dried mushrooms and dried shrimp (the latter two should have been soaked until tender). The ingredients are packed into containers (usually round ones) and sautéed sausages, mushrooms and shrimp are scattered on top, along with white sesame seeds. The puddings are then steamed.

When we used to make loh bok goh at home, my family would gather in the kitchen so we could eat the soft, hot cake fresh out of the steamer.

More often, though, it is pan-fried. The pudding firms up when chilled, which means it can be sliced neatly, then pan-fried in a little oil. At dim sum restaurants, they tend to cook it briefly, so it has a pale golden exterior. At home, I pan-fry it for a long time, turning it over as needed, so the exterior gets as brown and crusty as possible. I serve it with XO sauce (so far, so traditional), or home-made kimchi (for an east-meets-east fusion dish).

Post