January 2017

This one is going into my “Grandma Stephy’s Recipe Book”. Yes, I have a notebook that I have started a few years ago, where I write down some of my favourite recipes. I don’t care if people don’t use paper and pens 200 years later. My great-great-great-great-great- grandkids will read and try out this recipe book.

Chinese New Year is coming up again (January 28th, 2017 this year). So in hopes of staying on top of things, I’ve started prepping for it. I’ve already made my “Nin Go making Kit” (I measured out all the ingredients so that it’s SO much faster to make. For my recipe, go here .) and I wanted to add “Lo Bak Go” to my Chinese New Year food this year.

“Lo Bak Go”, or Chinese Turnip Cakes, is a type of savoury cakes that you can often find at Chinese dim sum. If you’ve never had it before, think of it as a “meat loaf” type texture, but made with mostly turnips rather than meat. It can be served steamed or pan fried. I personally like it steamed, with a little bit of soy sauce. Soft, warm, and savoury.

The recipe I’m sharing today is from Christine’s Recipes (This recipe is in Chinese. I tried looking to see if she has it in English, but haven’t been able to find it.) She has a wide variety of recipes, and her Chinese cooking recipes are great for beginners, too! I also have both of her cookbooks and they are super handy to have!

Enough intros. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get ready to work!

This is what I used for this “Lo Bak Go” (“Lo Bak” is carrot in Cantonese. “Go” is cake. Simple, right? ) You will probably need to stop by your local Chinese grocery store for most of the ingredients (or China town grocery store. Yes, I believe that there’s gotta be a China Town ,or Chinese street, in many cities out there.)

The sausage looking thing is Chinese preserved sausages. They can be chicken, pork, beef, or even turkey. I just took whatever ones I have from my fridge. Richard happens to like to throw one or two into the rice cooker to cook with the rice. And now my boys like it, too…sigh. And then there’s the dried shrimp. Can I call it shrimp even though they are so tiny? You will probably need to get them from the Chinese grocery store as well.

In terms of the rice flour and wheat starch, you might be able to find it in your neighbourhood store. If you go to the Chinese grocery store around January, these ingredients should be very easily accessible. That’s when lots of grandma’s like to make Turnip cake for Chinese New Year. Yes, I called myself a grandma. Darn proud of it! Just wait until I’m actually one. No pressure Jordan, Julian. I can wait for another 25 years. 😀 .

Here comes the “fun” part. The very reason why I don’t usually make “Lo Bak Go”. The prep work….

Soak the dried shrimps in warm water to soften up. At the mean time, quickly boil the sausages in hot water for a few minutes. Dice it all up! If you like to have chunky pieces, then just rough chop them. I do have to warn you, if you have them too chunky, these pieces will fall out of your “Lo Bak Go” when you eat them. No big deal, just personal preference. I usually mince the dried shrimp because I know my boys would find them too crunchy, but they do give good flavor.

Then, set up your Netflix, pull up a chair, and grate those turnips. You can tell that’s my favourite part of the process (sarcasm intended…). Come to think of it, THAT’S WHY my right bicep hurt the other day! Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You don’t have to grate them too finely, because you still want some texture.

All the prep work done? Next….

Heat up a frying pan, add oil, and stir fry the preserved sausages until fragrant. Add in the dried shrimp and do the same 🙂 . Put it aside. It smells really good hehehe 😀

Using the same pan, cook the grated turnip (with its juice). Sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Cook with lid on for 10 minutes on medium-low heat, or until turnip become transparent and soft. You should have more fluid than you started out with at this point. Depending on how much water is in your particular turnip, you might have more or less. Add in the chicken stock (or vegetable stock/water) and cooke for another 5 minutes.

Now mix in the rice flour and wheat starch. I usually mix half first and then the other half. If it’s too thick, add more fluid. You can decide how soft or dense the texture of your cake is at this point: if you like it softer, add more fluid. It should be the consistency of a thick but easy to stir paste. You don’t want to see anything too mushy or liquidy (so add the fluid slowly). If you like it more dense, you may add a little more stock and keep it at a dough like consistency. After a few times making “lo bak go”, you will find your preference. Just remember that, if it’s too soft, you may have a hard time slicing the “lo bak go”. In that case, just eat it as steamed “lo bak go” and make another batch but denser for the pan fried ones!

Then add back in your preserved sausage and dried shrimp.

This is what I ended up with. I tried to “show” the consistency in the picture by pressing down on the batter. It’s soft but not liquid-like. After this, pour it into an oiled pan and steam for 45-60 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean. You’ll have to adjust the time depending on the depth of your container.

I always make mine in a round pan. From what I know, the Chinese culture sees the circle shape as a symbol for completeness and togetherness. So on Chinese New Year, being the new beginning, we like to make/have/see things in this shape. It does make slicing it in uniform pieces difficult but I’m not concerned about that. If you want to be able to slice them in the same size, like they do at dim sum, make them in a loaf pan. Super flexible.

To serve, slice and pan fried with some oil on medium heat until golden! My boys like to eat them as snacks or for breakfast. Julian can eat a good 6 pieces in one go! That boy can eat, let me tell ya.

I hope that when someone asks my kids and my grandchildren about what kind of Mom/grandma I was like, one of the things they would tell them that I inspired them to learn about my culture/language because I always cooked yummy food. That they remember watching me make it for them, or making it with them. Because that’s what I think about when someone asks me about both my grandmothers. ❤

Thanks for reading,

Chat soon,

Stephy

Lo Bak Go (Chinese Turnip Cake)

Recipe adapted from Chirstine’s Recipes

1 kg turnip (usually about 1 1/2 of turnip)

1 1/4 cup rice flour

4 tbsp wheat starch

1-2 pieces of Chinese preserved sausages , or “lap cheong”

1/4 cup dried shrimps

salt and white pepper

3/4-1 cup of chicken broth/vegetable stocks

1. Soak the dried shrimps in warm water until softens, about 15 minutes. In the mean time, blanch the preserved sausages for 2-3 minutes. Dry well and dice finely.

2. Wash, peel, and grate the turnip.

3. Combine the rice flour and wheat starch. Mix well.

4. Heat up a large pan/wok, add a 1-2 tablespoons of oil. Sauté the preserved sausages over medium heat. Stir in the dried shrimp and sauté for a few more minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

5. Using the same pan, cook the turnip on medium heat until soft and translucent. About 10 minutes. Sprinkle in salt and white pepper. Remove from heat, add rice flour and wheat starch, stirring it into a thick batter. Stir in the preserved sausages and dried shrimps.

6. Pour the mixture into an oiled pan (I used an 8″ round cake pan) and steamed over high heat for about 45-60 minutes. Make sure you have enough water for the whole cooking time.

7. Let cool completely. The cake can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. To serve, slice into pieces and pan fry both sides on medium heat, until golden brown.

***Note: I omitted a few ingredients from Christine’s recipes due to eating preferences.

I don’t know about you and your babies, but Jordan wants to read the same book over, and over again. What? Your kids, too? Yep.

I can’t blame them. Them wanting the same book read over and over again, is like us being a regular at our favourite coffee shop or restaurant. You walk in, you know what to expect and how to behave, the staff knows you, you know them, they know your order, you have a good time! What’s not to like?

I’m not going to put on my teacher hat and tell you all the theoretical reasons why children like to reread the same book, or why we SHOULD reread the same books. I’m sure there are better websites out there, with more authority on this regard than I do, they can explain it all to you.

What I plan to do is share some of the things I do that keeps me from feeling like a running record, and also makes the rereading more fun with the little ones. You might already be doing them, but it’s always good to try again 🙂 .

1. Take turns reading the pages.

If you have read the book many many many times with your little ones, I’m sure you have noticed that he/she loves to chime in as you read. Why not give you little one a chance to try it on his/her own? You read one page, and have him/her read the next. Or as much as he/she can of the next page. Just give them a few more seconds to remember. You might be surprised.

2. If they are handling #1 well, let them read more of the story to you, and you play the supportive/backup role.

Depending on the book and the age of your child, he/she may even be ready to read the whole book (Or most of the book) to you. Start them off by reading the title AND the author (Knowing that someone wrote the book is important, too!) together, maybe even read the first page with him/her. After that, let them take the lead and allow them to show you what they can do!

3. You read most of the story, and invite your little one to read/talk as one or more of the characters.

If you are reading a story where the characters talk to each other (For example, “The Three Little Pigs”), invite your little one to play the role of one of the characters (5 bucks says they will want to be the wolf 😉 ) The next time you read the book, switch characters with each other.

4. Better yet, read and tell the story with props!

Don’t panic! Props can be as easy as a piece of paper with a picture of the characters. If you have puppets of the characters, that’s great. If not, it can take as short as 1 minute to make some. If you have post-it notes handy, draw the characters on them and stick them to your finger. Voila! For a little more, you can print pictures of the characters and glue them stir sticks or popsicle sticks (The next time you go to that coffee shop, grab a few more stir sticks *wink wink* 🙂 ). There are so many more ways to make simple, easy puppets for the characters in your story. Bonus: put these puppets in a ziplock bag with the story book and Tah-Dah! You’ve got yourself a little retelling story package to take ono the road!

5. Act out the story!

I know, I know. It’s 8 o’clock at night and the last thing you want to do is get up from that comfy bed of theirs to move and pretend to be Daddy Pig from Peppa Pig. Let’s give it a try! No Drama class teacher here judging your performance. Just your little one seeing Mommy and Daddy enjoying literatures and playing with him/her. Do yourself a favour and pick a short story to start with. It might take a little practice to do the entire Harry Potter story on your first go. Plus, you do want your little one to sleep at some point, right? You can be as low key as acting it out with no props (Imagination is the key! Just say “Oh and here’s that big cave we are about to go into!” and gesture a big cave in front of you. Don’t go and build one. Your significant other may not be happy.).

6. Create actions to go with the story.

Children’s book are full of patterns. Whenever you spot a pattern, make up some action to go with it. For example, when you read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” with your 18month-old, you can point to your eyes, and have him/her point as well, when you say “see”. Again, it doesn’t have to be complicated. You’ll be amazed how very simple things can make all the difference.

7. Read the story in a quieter/slower/quicker/squeakier/robotty-er voice.

Use a different voice. Try reading at a different speed or rhythm tonight. You can be silly and try reading “Moo, Baa, LaLaLa” in a squeaky voice! Obviously, you don’t want to be too too silly because you are probably wanting your little one to wind down for bed, but a little fun and snuggles would hopefully make bedtime routine smoother.

8. Try not reading the words this time.

What I mean is, try focusing on just the pictures tonight. Talk about the things that you see in the pictures. Talk about what the characters are wearing or how they are moving. Talk about what they might say, or what else they might say. This might be challenging for adults, too, being so use to reading the words in these stories.

9. Letter/Word hunt

This is for those of you with older little ones (maybe age 4 and up). If they are ready (for example, if you know that he/she knows a certain letter/word very well), then, before you start reading the story, say “Oh my goodness ( 🙂 come on, some drama here will make them want to do it with you! Lol) ! I noticed a letter E here (point to it…)! Let’s have a contest and see who can find the most E’s in this book! Ready?!”

Give it a whirl.

10. Let them choose!

Give them a few of these choices and see what they would pick! As long as you are sitting together, spending time together, and enjoying the time together, anything goes! Don’t forget hugs and kisses (or a high five!) before the lights go out!

Enjoy your read together.

Thanks for reading.