What We’re Cooking This Week: Turnip Fritters

Even though I ate dozens of them during the 20 years I worked in downtown Portland and went to the long-closed Fong Chong for dim sum at least once a month, I didn’t know until recently that the turnip cake, aka lo bak gou, played a prominent role in the lunar new year. There seem to be a few different stories about why the cakes, which are actually made using daikon radish, symbolize the good fortune everyone wants. But I think the best reason to eat them is because they’re so tasty.

The classic dim sum turnip cake combines shredded daikon and rice flour to make a simple batter that’s often studded with bits of Chinese sausage, radish, dried shrimp, and mushrooms. The batter gets steamed until it forms a solid, somewhat gelatinous mass, then it’s cut into squares and pan-fried to create a golden, slightly crispy crust.

The multistep process isn’t too complicated, but it takes some time and several different pans. I wanted the same flavor with less work, so I made fritters. Inspired by the much simpler technique used to make Japanese okonomiyaki, I combined a wheat flour, dashi, and egg batter with a few flavor-enhancing extras, then grated an actual turnip into it along with diced Chinese sausage and green onion. The fritters got pan-fried in olive oil, much easier than the steam-and-fry required for more authentic lo bak gou.

At Fong Chong every table had little glass jars of chili oil full of funky fermented black soy beans to spoon over the soft cakes. A more traditional condiment is thick, sweet, and salty hoisin sauce, but I get close to the same flavor by mixing something sweet—sugar, honey, maple syrup—with soy sauce and adding a bit of chili crisp for heat. While these fritters aren’t exactly like those dim sum turnip cakes, the flavor comes pretty close.

Recipe

1 large turnip (roughly softball size), grated

2-3 green onions, sliced

2 eggs

½ cup flour

1 teaspoon fish sauce

2 teaspoon instant dashi powder

1 teaspoon mirin

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon miso

½ cup water

1 small Chinese sausage, cut in ⅛-inch pieces

1 teaspoon kosher style sea salt

Extra virgin olive oil for frying

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. If the batter seems runny, add a little more flour. You’re aiming for spoonable but not pourable.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium, add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom, and gently drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil. Don’t crowd them, just cook in batches and keep the finished fritters in a wam oven. Let cook undisturbed for at least 4 minutes, then gently loosen the fritters so they move around. Cook for another minute or two, then gently flip and cook another 4-5 minutes. Serve with a slightly sweetened say and chili crisp dipping sauce.