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By Request
Betty Shimabukuro
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Chinese cake tastes better than it looks
THIS is the ugliest cake I've ever seen. What it resembles most closely, honestly, is tripe.
Lucky thing it tastes good.
Beulah Pena wrote asking for a recipe for Soy Zing Dan Gow, a steamed Chinese sponge cake that is a traditional sweet for special occasions such as the new year. "This is a cake my mother used to make when I was a kid."
To round out her new year's wishes, Pena also asked for a recipe for turnip cake, another holiday dish, also steamed.
BETTY SHIMABUKURO / BETTY@STARBULLETIN.COM
A wedge of turnip cake is a familiar item on dim sum menus. It is filled with pork sausage and shredded turnip.
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The Zoy Zing Dan Gow is very easy to make, with very basic ingredients. Various recipes call for flavorings of lemon, almond or vanilla by way of extracts, and some seek to disguise the end result with icing, a sprinkling of powdered sugar or fruit.
It is a nice, spongy, chewy cake that just happens to be quite unattractive, but looks aren't everything, people.
Steamed Sponge Cake
Sunset Magazine, February 2002
4 large eggs
1 large egg white
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Line bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan with cooking parchment.
Beat eggs, egg white and sugar on high speed until thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla.
Combine flour and baking powder. Whisk into egg mixture. When evenly blended, scrape into pan. Tap pan on countertop several times to remove air bubbles.
Place in a steamer over boiling water on medium heat. Cover and steam 20 to 25 minutes, until a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Add more boiling water as necessary.
Use knife to loosen cake from sides of pan. Invert onto a rack, remove parchment, then invert onto another rack to cool. Use serrated knife to cut cake into diamonds or wedges. Serve warm or cool. Serves 8 or 9.
Nutritional information unavailable.
I FOUND many formulas for a turnip cake in the virtual recipe box -- the Internet. The Chinese name is Law Bok Gow, or sometimes Lo Bak Gow, and it is a dim sum staple, holiday or not.
The version that follows cribs from several recipes, but the basic ingredients can be varied greatly.
The only basic is about 2 pounds of turnips -- Chinese daikon, preferably, although whatever you can find will do just fine. The turnip taste is not predominant -- spices and the pork really rule.
As for pork, strictly traditional recipes call for Chinese bacon or Chinese pork sausage, which you'd have to hunt down in Chinatown or a Chinese grocery. Other recipes use regular pork sausage from the regular supermarket. I opted for that, for simplicity's sake.
This is cake is also far from the prettiest at the prom -- but, hey, are you going to look at it or eat it?
New Year Turnip Cake
1/3 cup dried shrimp
4 shiitake mushrooms
2 pounds daikon (preferably Chinese), shredded to make about 4 cups
1 pound pork sausage
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 tablespoons rice wine or sherry
1/3 cup minced green onion
2 cups (10 ounces) rice flour
Soak shrimp and mushrooms in water until soft, about 1 hour. Squeeze out liquid and mince.
Shred daikon. You should have about 4 cups. Do not drain.
Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add sausage and stir to break up. Add mushrooms, shrimp and ginger. Sauté until well-mixed and pork is half-cooked. Remove from wok.
Add water and daikon to wok. Sprinkle with five-spice, chicken bouillon, pepper and wine. Cover and simmer until very soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Do not drain.
Add rice flour gradually to daikon and mix until well-coated. Add pork mixture and stir so all ingredients are well combined.
Press mixture into 2 greased 8-inch baking pans.
Steam cakes over medium heat 45 minutes, or until cooked through. If cake is still soft, it will firm up as it cools.
Serve in slices, hot or cold. Serves 6.
Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 530 calories, 25 g total fat, no saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, greater than 1,000 mg sodium, 57 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 22 g protein.
STEAMING TIPS
A 12-inch Chinese-style bamboo steamer is best for these recipes, but if using a metal steamer, drape a clean kitchen towel under the lid so condensation doesn't drip onto your cake. Be sure the ends are not touching the burner.
Close any vents in the lid and make sure it fits snugly or too much steam will escape.
If you don't have a steamer, use a skillet or wok large enough to hold your baking pan (the pan should not touch the sides). Place a ring of foil or a metal rack in the bottom of the skillet to hold the baking pan above the water.
When steaming for 20 minutes or more, you probably will have to add water to the base of your steamer. Keep a small pot of water simmering on the stove for this purpose.
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[ CORRECTION ]
Rice cake revision
The recipe for a Chinese Steamed Rice Cake printed in
"By Request" last Wednesday contained an error in the ingredient list.
What should have been long-grain rice, was instead printed as long rice. Big difference. Thanks to alert reader Doug Kaya for pointing this out.
Here is the corrected recipe. Apologies to anyone who tried to make it with long-rice noodles.
Steamed Rice Cake
» Part 1:
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1 cup hot water
1 package yeast
1/2 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees)
1/4 cup sugar
» Part 2:
1 cup warm water
1-1/4 cups sugar
Part 1: Soak rice in hot water 30 minutes. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sugar. Cover and set in warm place while rice soaks.
Part 2: Drain rice. Place 1/3 of rice and 1/3 cup water in blender. Cover and blend at high speed 4 to 5 minutes per batch, to thoroughly blend rice and water. Empty into a bowl and repeat with remaining rice and water.
Return all the liquefied rice to blender; add sugar. Blend on high speed 2 minutes.
Add yeast mixture. Blend on low speed 30 seconds. Pour into large bowl; cover and set in warm place for 2 hours.
Oil a 9-inch round baking pan. Gently stir rice mixture and pour into pan. Place on a steamer rack over boiling water and steam 30 minutes.
Cool completely, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Makes about 12 pieces.
Nutritional information unavailable.
Send queries along with name and phone number to: "By Request," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana, No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813. Or send e-mail to
bshimabukuro@starbulletin.com