Recipe: Fried Radish Cake

I'm a lazy blogger. I try to put up a few posts a month, but knowing that it's mostly a couple of friends who read somewhat regularly (.... thanks, you guys!!), sometimes a-few-posts-a-month turns into one-post-a-month, if that.

Recipe posts are, by far, the ones I procrastinate writing the most. Why would anyone follow my recipe, when there are a million of the same recipe already on the interwebs? Plus my recipe is probably a rip from another website already. A website that is more popular and includes awesome artsy photos and user-uploaded feedback.

That being said, I've decided that when I do take the time to write-up a recipe, it will be a more "unusual" recipe. But still keeping it simple and with the local food theme, of course (i.e. all main ingredients can be grown in/around Toronto). Here is the first.

Fried radish (turnip) cake used to be one of my all-time favourite things to order at the congee house. Or insert "congee house" for "chinese restaurant" for those who don't know what congee is (God help your soul), though the dish may actually be from Singapore or Malaysia. Since abstaining from meat and seafood a few years ago, I haven't had the pleasure of enjoying FRC, as it contains dried seafood.

So when I found a small bunch of white radishes laying at the bottom of my CSA box, I knew exactly what I needed to do. Extra credit for having balcony-ready chinese broccoli (gai lan) on hand.


Fried Radish Cake (yes, vegetarian! Adapted from this recipe. Makes 2 meal-sized servings.
Season: Late Summer, Autumn

Ingredients:

2-3 small-medium white radishes --- grated, approx. 400g
1 cup rice flour
2/3 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
Vegetable oil for stir frying
1 clove garlic --- minced
2 green onions --- chopped (chives also works in a pinch)
4 shiitake mushrooms: fresh, or dried and reconstituted --- sliced
1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp chili black bean sauce 1 tbsp oyster sauce 1 egg --- beaten
Dash of white pepper
Drizzle of toasted sesame oil
Cilantro
Sesame seeds (optional)

Cook's notes: Flavour (e.g. soy sauce, etc) measurements are to be used as a guidance. Adjust to your personal preference. Most of these ingredients are common in a Chinese household, but quite uncommon elsewhere. Don't go out and buy all of the ingredients if you don't have them. However, my opinion: soy sauce and chili black bean are mandatory.

Directions:

Steam the grated radish for about 30 mins, or until radish is translucent. Cool.

Mix rice flour, water and salt until smooth. Add steamed radish. Pour into a medium (5.5" diameter) ramekin, and steam for 40 mins. It will resemble a semi-solid, lumpy cake (see photo). Cool, and refrigerate overnight so the cake firms up. Cut into 1" chunks.

Heat some oil on medium-high heat on a skillet or wok. Add garlic and green onions, and stir for 10 seconds. Add mushrooms, and stir fry until lightly browned, about 3 mins. Add radish cake chunks and sauces, and stir fry until lightly browned, about 10 mins. Drizzle more oil if it looks dry. Move everything to the sides of the pan so there is a hole in the middle of your pan. Drizzle some oil into the hole, and add beaten egg. Scramble inside the hole, until it's almost done, then mix everything together. Stir fry for another 3-5 mins, to get it all a little more brown and crispy. Mix in white pepper, sesame oil, cilantro and sesame seeds (if using). Serve hot, with a side of steamed chinese broccoli with veggie oyster sauce.

Death by Canning

Likely not that dramatic. In any case, you should still read the Ecoholic article in this week's NOW magazine, re: nasty chemicals in canning lids:

http://www.nowtoronto.com/columns/ecoholic.cfm?content=177185

I had no idea that the standard canning lids contained bisphenol A (BPA). Nor was I aware of a reusable lid alternative.

Adria also references a few of her favourite canning websites. Warning though: before you start clicking on the links, be prepared for a few hours of reading and being inspired by great ideas. Speaking of which... you should also check out wellpreserved.ca, a fantastic food blog authored by two well-seasoned canners, who just happen to be my neighbors.

Les Pommes de Nuit Blanche

This past weekend was Toronto's 5th annual Nuit Blanche event. Being a night-owl and creative type, the idea of a dusk-to-dawn massive public art-party event naturally excites me. And when I received Not Far From The Tree's call for volunteers for their "Cider Making Spectacle" as part of the event, I couldn't help but join in on the fun.

I showed up at 3:30am at the Gladstone Hotel's Art Bar, along with 3 other volunteers. For the event, Not Far From The Tree brought in 400 lbs of apples, which was a small portion of the thousands of pounds of fruit they collect from trees around the city each year. For the last 3 hours of the event, we turned these unloved apples into steamy hot cider, which sold for $2 per sample.

The cider-making process was simple, but labour intensive:

Wash apples. Peel-off skin (using neat-o peeling device). Slice into quarters.













Crank slices through manual grinder.















Press. Collect cider (i.e. unfiltered juice).






















Heat with cinnamon sticks. Pour into little cups, and sell.






















By 6:30am, our little operation/performance/installation served out many little cups of cider, and a little cider-making know-how, to many happy people.

Grape Jelly Fail

Throughout August and September, concord grapes were a staple in my diet. The source was our Plan B CSA box, and no matter how hard I tried and how purple my fingers became, I just could not eat them fast enough. Then, a brilliant idea: grape jelly!

Seemed simple enough. Squish grapes. Strain. Boil. Add sugar. Add pectin. Pour into jars and boiling-water process for shelf stability.

Upon tasting the grape juice after straining, I decided that it was sweet enough and didn't need much more sugar. I decreased the sugar in the recipe by more than half. BIG MISTAKE.

The jelly did not set. So the next day, I added more pectin. Again, still runny. The following week, I added more sugar. And yet still, a jar of purple liquid stared back at me.

I could add more sugar, but then it would be way too sweet. I could add more pectin, but I would have to buy another box and I would have no idea how much to add.

So now, I have 2 jars of grape concentrate for making sparkling grape drinks (just add soda water). Pretty tasty, I suppose. Lesson learned: don't mess around with jelly recipes. Also, when life gives you runny jelly, make drink concentrate.