港式蘿蔔糕 Radish Cake

農曆新年必備的是什麼？

What is essential for Chinese New Year?

蘿蔔糕，一款很受歡迎的港式點心。其實在我小時候，蘿蔔糕基本只會在農曆新年的時候吃的。農曆新年吃蘿蔔糕、年糕等糕點是為了取其步步高陞的好意頭。小時候蘿蔔糕都是家裡自己做的，農曆新年錢或者期間，媽媽和姨媽都做蘿蔔糕，方便又親戚來家裡拜年時有糕點招待客人或送禮而做，所以，十分足料，也因此我們家以前很少在外面買蘿蔔糕，覺得不管是蘿蔔臘味各樣都不夠，基本上只是一塊硬硬用粉漿做的糕，後來流行的XO醬炒蘿蔔糕，我個人覺得也是為了延駛外面買回來的蘿蔔糕本身並不是很足料兒做出來的新點心，家裡足料的蘿蔔糕，簡單的煎一下，再配上廣東的辣椒醬，這是我過年最愛吃的賀年食品。

Radish cake – a very popular Hong Kong Dim Sum nowadays. When I was a kid, radish cake was only made and eaten during Chinese New Year (CNY). Cake (Gao in Chinese) has very similar pronunciation as “high” and thus it has a symbolic meaning “progressing up/high”. We used to make radish cake at home before CNY. My mom and my aunt will make quite a lot and so we can serve our relatives radish cake when they came visit us. Sometimes we would even send this as gift. They used the best (and a lot of!) ingredients. The radish cake was so delicious that we never had to buy from store. Later, it is getting popular to have radish cake in restaurants and they created some new recipe e.g. stir fry radish cake with XO sauce. I personally still prefer the more traditional way of eating radish cake.

雖然我很喜歡吃蘿蔔糕，但我不常做，只會在過年的時候做來送給好朋友，因為做蘿蔔糕實在是體力活（我也不會想糯米飯一樣說，新手也很容易做到！），臂力稍微弱做完蘿蔔糕會累一整天，所以呢…有幸吃過我做的蘿蔔糕的朋友，你們真是我的好朋友啊！

Although I like radish cake, I don’t make it often except around CNY time. Making radish cake requires a lot of energy. I would get quite tired after making it. Thus, if you have ever tried my radish cake, you are my real friends.

李媽媽配方的蘿蔔糕有什麼不一樣？

What’s the difference of Mama Lee’s recipe?

跟大家分享的食譜當然是傳授於李媽媽的，除了超級足料，還有一個跟很多蘿蔔糕食譜不一樣的地方，就是粉漿裡會放粟粉，為什麼？粘米粉是會讓蘿蔔糕成形的粉，但如果全部都是粘米粉，做出來的蘿蔔糕很多時候都「硬過我條命」，粟粉會讓蘿蔔糕邊軟滑，但是粟粉越多，蘿蔔糕越軟（當然也要看你加多少水），也就是越難切片煎，下面食譜是我們家喜歡比較軟的，粘米粉和粟粉比例大概是7:3，擔心太軟的話，可以減少粟粉份量，反正粘米粉越多越硬。

Apart from having a lot of good ingredients, there is also a secret of Mama Lee’s recipe. That is cornstarch in the cake paste. Why? It is because rice flour would give firmness of the cake. Thus, if you only use rice flour, the cake would be too hard. Thus, adding cornstarch would make the cake smooth and softer. Of course, you don’t want to add too much as then the cake will be too soft and thus it’s hard to cut and pan fry it. I normally use a 7:3 (rice flour: cornstarch) ratio.

水的份量也沒有一個絕對標準，第一要看你買到的蘿蔔水份多足，第二也要看你的粘米粉吸水的情況。

Same as the amount of water – it all depends on how juicy the radish is.

總之，如李媽媽常言道「自己執生」。祝大家好運！ Like what Mama Lee said, we need to be agile enough in the kitchen to adapt changes. Good luck!

港式蘿蔔糕 HK-Style Radish Cake

_份量 ^_Servings	_準備時間 ^{_{Prep Time}}	_烹調時間 ^{_{Cook Time}}	_難度 _^Difficulty
3盤*	^{30 mins}	^{60 mins}	^{★★★★★}

*盤8寸直徑，3-4公分深，還有剩下的我用了個大概5寸但較深的盤

以下食譜份量：三盤8寸的糕盤（3-4公分深），還有剩下的我用了個大概5寸但較深的盤。The below recipe is for 3 8-inch cake pan (around 3-4 cm deep) and the remaining can fill up a 5-inch cake pan.

材料 INGREDIENTS：

❑ 蘿蔔 1.8kg；Radish 1.8 kg

❑ 臘腸4條（也可以加臘肉）；Chinese sausage 4

❑ 冬菇10個，中型；Dried mushroom, medium size, 10

❑ 蝦米適量；Dried shrimp

❑ 粘米粉350克；Rice flour 350g

❑ 粟粉150克；Cornstarch 150g

❑ 水大概350-400毫升，請自己根據濃稠情況調整；Water around 350-400ml, adjust if needed

做法 DIRECTIONS：

1）用熱水將冬菇和蝦米泡軟，大概需要30分鐘，記得要先將冬菇和蝦米先洗乾淨再泡，這樣泡過冬菇和蝦米的水可以留著在煮蘿蔔的時候用，提升鮮甜味。臘腸、冬菇和蝦米切成小粒。Soak the dried mushroom and shrimp in hot water for at least 30 mins. Wash them before soaking and thus you can use the soaking water later. Cut the sausage, mushroom and shrimp into small dices.

2）將蘿蔔鉋成絲，刨蘿蔔時候出來的水一定要留著 Shred the radish and keep all the juices

3）把粘米粉和粟粉拌勻，加適量的水拌開，能拌開就可以，水不用太多，這個配方的話，我大概用350-400毫升的水。Mix the rice flour and cornstarch and add water. Just enough to mix them well. In this recipe, I use about 350-400ml water.

4）先把鍋燒熱，加少許油，把臘腸、冬菇和蝦米和炒香，把炒香的料盛出來。Heat up the pan. Add a little oil. Add the Chinese sausage, mushroom and shrimp and stir fry for about 3-4 mins until the flavour is coming out. Set aside.

5）把蘿蔔絲連刨蘿蔔的水下鍋煮，加泡過冬菇的水，一定要讓蘿蔔煮一會兒，這樣蘿蔔的甜度才會出來，待蘿蔔煮開，把料加回去拌勻，加鹽、胡椒粉和雞粉調味，再煮開了之後，把火關到最少，再把粉漿一點點的加進去，一邊加，一邊拌勻，要煮成濃稠的漿糊狀才行，這個步驟不能急，要慢，越濃稠越難拌，但不能停，為什麼？誰叫你想吃自家製蘿蔔糕？而且做人不能半途而廢！In the same pan, add the shredded radish including the radish juice. Add the soaking water of mushroom. Cook the radish until it’s tender. Add back the cooked sausage, mushroom and shrimp. Season with salt, pepper and some chicken bouillon powder. Turn the heat to the lowest. Add the flour paste gradually and keep stirring it unit the radish cake paste is formed.

6）錫紙盤底塗抹一點油，把煮要的蘿蔔粉漿，放進錫紙盤裡，可以用一些油把表面弄平。Brush some oil in a cake pan. Pour the radish cake paste. Use some oil on the spatula to smooth out the cake surface.

7）中火蒸大概45分鐘，用牙籤插進去不粘牙籤就算熟了，熟了之後，撒上蔥花，再蒸一分鐘。Steam in medium heat for about 45 minutes. Check with a tooth pick. Top with some chopped green onion and steam for another minute.

重要提醒 Important Reminders:

蘿蔔糕要待半天左右才會變硬，一般會切片煎，再粘辣椒漿吃。The cake is very soft when it’s freshly steamed. Need to wait for about half day before you can cut into slices and pan fry.
粘米粉我用的下面的這個牌子，在香港應該很容易買到，在國外一般中國或亞洲超市都會有。I use the below brand for the rice flour. Should be quite widely available in Asian supermarket.
我認識一些朋友喜歡加瑤柱（即干貝），我個人不太喜歡，你自己喜歡放什麼都可以！I know some people like to put some dried scallop. Yet, I don’t like it much. So it’s up to you if you want to put some.
如果想做XO醬炒蘿蔔糕，將蘿蔔糕切塊後，要先煎香才炒，蘿蔔糕建議多一點粘米粉，蘿蔔糕太軟不容易炒。If you want to stir fry the radish cake with XO sauce, then you better increase the proportion of rice flour in the recipe and so the cake is firmer and it would be easier to stir fry.