Chinese Radish Cake Recipe: Savory Cake with Soft Center and Crispy Edges!
You might worry about your growing kids not eating enough vegetables. If you make this recipe, they will more than love it and want it often. So, you can trick them into eating vegetables with this delicious radish cake. But, how do you make it?
This Chinese radish cake recipe requires a bit of time as you need to make it in multiple steps. From preparing the vegetables to steaming and frying the cake, the process might seem difficult. Don’t worry, I will break the process down into simple steps. Let’s make it.
Table of Contents
Chinese Radish Cake Recipe Overview
Planning your time ahead is important, as this recipe has a lot of waiting time. The following overview chart has all the information you need.
| Course: Snack | Cuisine: Chinese | Difficulty: Medium | ||
| Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes | ||||
| Serving | Preparation Time | Cooking Time | Calories | |
| 4 persons | 2 hours 30 minutes | 1 hour | 132 kcal | |
Ingredients Needed for the Recipe
You will need a bunch of vegetables and aromatics to make this savory cake. Here are the ingredients.
- Mushroom: 6-8 shiitake mushrooms
- Radish: 1 large Chinese radish
- Onion: 2 medium onions, diced
- Garlic: 4 cloves, minced
- Scallion: 7-8 stalks, finely chopped
- Flour: 2 cups of rice flour
- Salt: 1½ tsp
- Oil: 2 tbsp
Chinese Radish Cake Recipe: Step-By-Step Instructions
You will need to spend quite some time to prepare the vegetables and aromatics. Let me show you the details below.
Step 1: Soak and Dice the Mushrooms
Soak the shiitake mushrooms in water for about 15-20 minutes. Once the mushrooms are hydrated, dice them.
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Step 2: Chop the Aromatics and Vegetables
Dice two medium onions finely. Then, mince the garlic cloves and chop the scallions. Use a grater to grate the Chinese radish. All the vegetables and aromatics should be chopped finely.
Step 3: Saute the Aromatics and Vegetables
Put diced onions, minced garlic, and chopped scallions in a pan and saute them over high heat for a few minutes. Then, add the diced mushrooms and grated Chinese radish to the pan. Cook everything until they are moist.
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Step 4: Add the Rice Flour Batter
Take two cups of rice flour in a bowl. Add the water you used to soak the mushroom to the flour slowly until you get a thick batter. Then, pour the rice flour batter into the pan and mix with the vegetables. As soon as the batter starts to thicken up, turn the heat off.
Step 5: Steam the Radish Cake
Put the vegetable and rice flour batter in a baking dish and level up the top using a spatula. Then, put the dish in a steamer and steam the cake for about 45 minutes. After you take it out of the steamer, let it rest in the refrigerator for about two hours.
Step 6: Cut the Cake and Fry It
Take the chilled cake out of the fridge and cut it into large pieces. Then, heat the oil in a pan and fry the cake pieces for a few minutes. Make sure all sides are golden.
Nutrition Facts of the Recipe
Chinese radish cake contains 132 calories per serving. It also has a good amount of carbohydrates, fiber, and minerals. You will get the nutritional value below.
- Total Carbohydrates: 29g
- Protein: 1g
- Total Fat: 2g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5g
- Total Dietary Fiber: 5g
- Total Sugar: 9g
- Cholesterol: 13mg
- Sodium: 312mg
- Potassium: 14mg
- Calcium: 5mg
- Iron: 0mg
- Vitamin A: 9IU
- Vitamin C: 0.3mg
Do’s and Don’ts of the Recipe
You can reduce some hassle of making this radish cake by following the tips below.
Do’s
- While making the rice flour batter, add water slowly so that the batter isn’t too runny. Otherwise, you will need more time to thicken it up.
- Before adding the batter, make sure you dry up the moisture released from the vegetables. It will result in a crispier cake.
Don’ts
- Don’t cut the radish cake right after steaming it. The cake is still soft and jiggly, so ruining the cake is easy.
- Don’t fry the cake pieces for too long because they are already cooked. You just need the color on the outside.
Chinese Radish Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Method
- Soak the shiitake mushrooms in water for about 15-20 minutes. Once the mushrooms are hydrated, dice them.
- Dice two medium onions finely. Then, mince the garlic cloves and chop the scallions. Use a grater to grate the Chinese radish. All the vegetables and aromatics should be chopped finely.
- Put diced onions, minced garlic, and chopped scallions in a pan and saute them over high heat for a few minutes. Then, add the diced mushrooms and grated Chinese radish to the pan. Cook everything until they are moist.
- Take two cups of rice flour in a bowl. Add the water you used to soak the mushroom to the flour slowly until you get a thick batter. Then, pour the rice flour batter into the pan and mix with the vegetables. As soon as the batter starts to thicken up, turn the heat off.
- Put the vegetable and rice flour batter in a baking dish and level up the top using a spatula. Then, put the dish in a steamer and steam the cake for about 45 minutes. After you take it out of the steamer, let it rest in the refrigerator for about two hours.
- Take the chilled cake out of the fridge and cut it into large pieces. Then, heat the oil in a pan and fry the cake pieces for a few minutes. Make sure all sides are golden.
FAQs
People also ask the following questions about this recipe. I tried to answer a few common questions.
Can I use any protein in this radish cake?
Yes, you can use protein to improve the flavor and nutritional value of this radish cake. Minced beef, pork, or chicken should be cooked with vegetables before adding the batter.
Do I need to blanch the radish for this recipe?
No, you don’t need to blanch radish for this recipe. Grated radish doesn’t take much time to be cooked through. So, you can directly put it in the pan.
Can I make this cake with other vegetables?
Not all vegetables are suitable for making this cake. Instead of radish, you can use turnip or other root vegetables.
Can I make a sweet cake with this recipe?
No. This recipe is for making a savory cake. It has various aromatics that are suitable for this recipe. If you want to make it sweet, the flavor of this radish cake won’t be as expected.
Conclusion
Radish cake is a mildly spicy cake made with rice flour, radish, mushrooms, and a few other ingredients. This rice cake is first steamed and then fried to crisp the outside up. So, you will get a crispy bite on the outside with a soft center in this delicious and nutritious cake.
You can make this Chinese radish cake recipe in large batches and preserve the steamed cake. Just take it out of the fridge a few hours before you need to serve it. Then, fry the cake and serve it hot. This will reduce a lot of hassle as you don’t need to go through all the steps every time you make this cake.
