Revealing my Cantonese roots

Although Singapore is the place I call home, it's not where I was born. When I was 5, my parents uprooted & moved the family & their business from Hong Kong. We used to make regular trips back there to visit family & friends, of which I have very hazy memories of.

Then in order to get to know the place that I was born, I decided to go work in Hong Kong for a while & ended up being there for 9 years. Which may help to explain why Cantonese food will always hold a special place in my heart.

This past week, I was craving for Cantonese & got busy in the kitchen preparing some of my favorites.

I always look forward to eating Lor Bak Go (Radish Cake) when I'm at a dimsum restaurant. I particularly like the steam ones that come in bowl - flavor is the same as fried radish cake except the texture is smoother & melts in your mouth. I have yet to attempt that at home.

I made the regular Lor Bak Go but Hong Kong style of course, with lots of lup cheong (chinese sausage), dried shrimps & chinese mushrooms. This freezes very well which is why I always make extras so that when craving strikes, I just need to defrost & fry them up.

Lor Bak Go

600g radish grate finely
125 ml water
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp pepper
5 chinese mushrooms, diced
1 lap cheong (chinese sausage), diced
handful of dried shrimps, soaked in water then diced

Mix together
250g rice flour
625ml water
salt

1. Drain radish, put in pan with 125ml of water, salt, sugar & pepper. Cook over medium heat until most of the water has evaporated

2. Pour the rice flour mixture into the pan & mix well

3. On a separate pan, fry sausages, dried shrimps & mushrooms. When done, add to the radish batter

4. Mix everything thoroughly & keep stirring until the mixture becomes a thick paste. Add more salt if necessary

5. Transfer to an oiled pan & steam for 30-40 minutes till done (poke with a chopstick, if it comes up clean, it's done)

6. Cool thoroughly before cutting

Note : I use a round cake pan for my lor bak goh. You can also use a longer & deeper dish but would probably have to steam it longer.

Yet another dish that has the classic Cantonese lup cheong, chinese mushrooms & dried shrimps. Lor Mai Fun or Glutinous Rice. I'm embarrassed to admit how much of this I can eat at one go.

In a previous entry, I had used this as stuffing for quail which you can find the recipe here. I would normally also add diced chicken - just fry it together with the mushrooms & lup cheong.