Radish cake (萝卜糕）

I first tried a radish (also called big carrot or turnip) cake recipe probably around 2005. It was a lot of work and involved stir frying stuff, which I hate as it greases up my kitchen. I wasn't satisfied with the outcome either because it used only rice flour. I found it very dense. When I brought it to work, my cheffy staff told me that I should add corn flour. I have since done some research and found that wheat starch is a common addition.

Bear Naked Food: Uses corn flour as an addition and makes 2x20cm square trays

The recipe that I'm trialling here belongs to Christine because she uses wheat starch which I specially went out to buy. Wheat starch seems to be the magic 'softener' ingredient in many Chinese dim sum pastries including char siew pao so it felt like a worthy investment. Christine uses a round 20cm (8inch) cake tin. Christine also has an IP version (comes with video) of this recipe but the steaming time isn't very much reduced. While the regular wok steaming takes 45 to 60 minutes, the IP version takes 40 minutes. Considering I don't have the correct cake tin or pyrex to fit into the IP, it hardly seems saving the 5 minutes of steaming time. Christine's recipe also seems closest to the traditional Cantonese recipe that my late Kao Mo used to send over ever so often. My adaptation because I was lacking in a few ingredients.

Ingredients 

1kg of radish/turnip, shredded
4 to 5 dried shitake, rehydrated and cubed (reserve the soaking water)
55g dried shrimp, rehydrated and finely chopped (omitted because I ran out and I never did like it in my radish cake anyway)
60g salted radish (I don't normally see this but I'll give it a try. I did have to soak in hot water and throw away the water to reduce the salt.)
2 chinese sausages (lap cheong), cubed
1 tsp chicken stock powder
¾ C reserved water used to soak the mushrooms (more water may be needed depending on how fresh the radish is, see below)
Pinch of white pepper
170g rice flour
4 tbsp wheat starch
4 shallots, thinly sliced (I didn't have this)
Pinch of salt to taste.


Method
1. Mix the two flours in a bowl.
2. Saute the lap cheong, salted radish, and dried shrimp until fragrant. Set aside.
3. Saute the shallots. Add the grated turnip and stock and cover to cook until tender and translucent. (I needed another ½ C of water to cook because the water quickly evaporated.) Taste and add salt if needed. Remove from heat.
4. Add the flours and mix well to combine into a thick batter (see video for an indication of how thick the batter should be). It is just until all the flour has been moistened and no dry flour spots. It shouldn't be drippy. (I needed another 2 tbsp of water) Add back the lap cheong et al. and stir until combined.
5. Transfer the batter into an 20cm (8inch) square tin (which I find easier to cut into regular rectangles later). Steam for 45 to 60 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. (It took me the full hour with a water top up halfway even tho my radish was only 770g)
6. Cool down and refrigerate.
7. To serve, cut up slices and either re-steam to heat up or pan fry. Some recipes coat with tapioca starch and fry up with lots of oil for the added crispy layer.

Recipe feedback
- Definitely a winner! The wheat starch made all the difference, it wasn't dense.
- Even though my radish was only 770g, it was just enough flour to bind everything together. I wonder how the recipe's 1kg of radish will hold up, will 170g rice flour be enough?
- A 20 inch square tin holds more volume than a 20 inch round tin. My cake was very flat, about 1.5 inch thick. Perhaps enough if I just want to fry up? More crispy edges. But certainly much thinner than my late aunt's. But if it were thicker, then I'd need to double the cooking time, no?

Update #1: This is an IP version of the recipe. I'm skeptical how she got such a big foil tray into the IP and also how 12 minutes is really enough (given my experiences with the IP chai kway). It's also not very delicious how everything goes in without frying. 
http://www.myinstantpotlife.com/turnip-cake/?fbclid=IwAR3U6xSpwz_RMAxE_rLC1iudK9dQYuW-xbH8jgje7D0P0n7zz5Efj9sIOEM

Update #2: I tried using the IP. Basically used the same recipe above except used 1 chinese bowl of rice flour, 4 tbsp wheat flour, and 2 tbsp corn flour. IP in 2 trays for 15 mins and 15 minutes de-pressurise.

Result? It was too rubbery! The addition of corn starch isn't a good idea, it makes it too gummy and dry, the bits were falling apart. It was probably also over-steamed. While the original IP says 12 minutes, 15 minutes with max 10 mins depressurise should be the max. When fried up it was still very dry and not any more or less crispy compared to the above non-IP recipe recipe.

Update #3

This time I also used the IP but I used my glass containers, covered with foil. The radish was particularly juicy and exuded a lot of water so I used 3 rice bowls of rice flour with the 4 tbsp of wheat starch, and another ¾C of soaking liquid to cook the other ingredients. IP in the two glass 1 litre containers, steam for 20 minutes with natural release for 10 minutes. It came out just a bit overdone (dry) so next time 18 minutes with natural release 10 minutes.

After air frying for 10 minutes at 210 deg C (turning halfway), it came out slightly crispy at the edges but not as pretty golden brown as panfrying. A healthier alternative to frying but not as good of course!