Stir-Fried Turnip Cake with Vegan XO Chilli Sauce
Ingredients
White radish (peeled and shredded) 750g
Shiitake mushrooms 100g
Smoked paprika 1 teaspoon
Toasted fennel seed powder t teaspoon
Coconut sugar 1 tablespoon
Pink salt 1 ½ teaspoons
Coriander with stems, finely chopped 1 small bunch
Rice flour 150g
Wheat starch 38g
Water 180ml
Mushroom seasoning 1 teaspoon
Sesame oil 1 teaspoon
White pepper powder 1/2 teaspoon
Sunflower seed oil 3 tablespoons
Vegetarian XO chilli sauce
White sesame seeds
Instructions
‘Cut the shiitake mushrooms into small dice. In a frying pan, heat up 1 tablespoon of oil and add the mushrooms. Stir-fry them until golden brown, then add the smoked paprika and toasted fennel powder and stir. Remove them from the pan and put them aside. In the same pan, sweat the radish with the coconut sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt until some liquid from the radish has been released, then add in the coriander stems.
Mix the rice flour, wheat starch and water together in a bowl until they’re evenly distributed. Add in the sweated radish mixture, the shiitake mushrooms, the rest of the salt, the mushroom seasoning, sesame oil, white pepper powder and sunflower seed oil. Pour the mix into steam-proof container and steam it for approximately 45 minutes, adding water into the steamer every 15 minutes. It’s ready when the substance becomes cake-like and stiff. Reserve it and let it cool.
To make the XO stir-fried radish cake, dice the steamed radish cake and sauté it in a non-stick pan with a bit of cooking oil until golden brown. Add 1–2 tablespoons of XO chilli sauce, then toss in the white sesame seeds and chopped coriander leaves.’
Peggy is the founder and principal Chef-Consultant of Grassroots Initiatives, and author of new digital cookbook ‘Provenance 譜珍譜法: Principles of plant based cookery'. She is also the founder of plant-based restaurants Gassroots Pantry and Nectar.