Chinese Carrot Rice Cake (Hu Luo Bo Gao – 胡萝卜糕) is a great variation on the more common and traditional Chinese Luo Bo Gao, or turnip cake made with daikon radish. This version uses carrots, which is a more familiar and easy-to-find vegetable, but yields a similar texture and a great color!
(Now, in case you’re wondering––for you Cantonese folks out there or anyone who frequents Chinatowns that can tend to be Cantonese dominant, the Cantonese pronunciation is lo bak go. You’ll notice these differences in spelling and pronunciation if you’ve ever read our traditional Cantonese Lo Bak Go recipe.
An Inspired Recipe!
For the most part, I am a pretty traditional guy when it comes to cooking. But every once in a while, I get some inspiration to make something new and different to change up our favorite recipes. Fresh daikon can be difficult to find depending on where you live, and plus, not everyone enjoys the flavor of daikon radish, which definitely bears a distinctive flavor.
So, regular old carrots, a more familiar root vegetable for most of the world, works really well when combined with ginger, scallions and pork. These ingredients have proven to be a winning combination – just check out Judy’s Carrot Ginger Pork Buns recipe! Mixed with rice flour and the right combination of spices, you get a delicious but different version of the traditional lo bak go you’ll find at Chinese dim sum restaurants or at grandma’s house for Chinese New Year.
Quick Recipe Notes
Here are a couple of cook’s notes to ensure success!
- Use a fatty pork (no more than 70% lean) for this dish, as the rice cake needs some fat to make it taste great.
- To ensure the same results you see in our photos, use a digital kitchen scale for measuring everything. Variations when using a measuring cup may throw the recipe off!
- Try your best to leave as much liquid in the wok as possible when scooping out the cooked pork, carrot, ginger, and scallion. But, good news––no need to squeeze the liquid out of the carrots.
I was surprised by how much I loved this change-up over the usual daikon radish, dried shrimp and Chinese sausage in classic lo bak go. But I shouldn’t be surprised, given how versatile a vegetable carrots are.
This Chinese New Year, try this carrot rice cake recipe alongside the traditional daikon radish lo bak go and introduce friends and family to a new take on a longtime favorite!
Carrot Rice Cake Recipe Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a wok until just smoking, and add the ground pork. Sear for 30 seconds. Turn the heat down to medium, and cook the pork until it’s no longer pink. Add the grated ginger and mix for 30 seconds until combined.
Next, stir in the grated carrots and add 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine.
Stir-fry the carrots for another 30 seconds, and add 2 cups warm water. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
Stir in 1½ teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon fresh ground white pepper, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chopped scallions, bring back to a simmer, and turn off the heat.
Scoop out the pork, carrots and scallions into a mixing bowl, leaving behind as much liquid in the wok as you can.
Pour the rest of the remaining liquid into a measuring cup, and add more water until there is a total of 1⅔ cups (395ml).
Add the rice flour and cornstarch to the carrot mixture.
Mix in the 1⅔ cups of liquid until everything is well combined, and there are no visible lumps of flour. Set aside. Spread 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in a 9-inch glass loaf pan, ensuring all sides are evenly coated.
Prepare your steamer or wok with a steaming rack. See our post on how to set up a steamer if you’re not familiar with steaming foods in Chinese cooking. Make sure there is enough water in the steamer for 60 minutes of steaming; 2 to 3 quarts should do the trick. Bring the water to a slow boil.
Stir your carrot and rice flour mixture again until combined (it will have settled), and pour the batter into the oiled loaf pan.
Immediately place the loaf pan on top of the steaming rack. Cover and steam at medium heat for 60 minutes.
You can double-check that your carrot is done when a skewer or thin chopstick can easily penetrate to the bottom of the loaf and the chopstick is not coated in batter. Transfer the loaf pan to a cooling rack. Let rest for 30 minutes. It is normal to have some water on the surface of the carrot rice cake after steaming. It will reabsorb into the loaf.
At this point, you can prepare your carrot rice cake to eat or refrigerate it for later. When you are ready to serve your carrot rice cake, remove it from the loaf pan. It’s best to run a knife around the loaf to separate the sides from the pan, then turn the loaf pan over onto a cutting board.
Cut the loaf into ½-inch thick slices.
And pan fry in an oiled nonstick pan or frying pan until warmed and slightly crispy.
Serve your Carrot Rice Cake with oyster sauce and chili oil on the side!
If you like this Ginger Carrot Rice Cake or our traditional Daikon Radish Lo Bak Go rice cake, then don’t miss our recipe for Taro Wu Tou Go rice cake!
Chinese Carrot Rice Cake (Hu Luo Bo Gao - 胡萝卜糕)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (plus 2 teaspoons for greasing the pan)
- 5 ounces 70% lean ground pork (142g)
- 1 tablespoon ginger (14g, freshly grated)
- 12 ounces grated carrots (340g)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 2 to 2½ cups water (475-590 ml)
- 1½ teaspoons salt (7.5g)
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil (5g)
- 5 whole scallions (4 ounces or 113g, chopped)
- 1½ cup rice flour (155g)
- 1½ tablespoons cornstarch (12g)
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a wok until just smoking, and add the ground pork. Sear for 30 seconds. Turn the heat down to medium, and cook the pork until it’s no longer pink. Add the grated ginger and mix for 30 seconds until combined.
- Next, stir in the grated carrots and add 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine. Stir-fry the carrots for another 30 seconds, and add 2 cups warm water. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
- Stir in 1½ teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon fresh ground white pepper, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chopped scallions, bring back to a simmer, and turn off the heat.
- Scoop out the pork, carrots and scallions into a mixing bowl, leaving behind as much liquid in the wok as you can. Pour the rest of the remaining liquid into a measuring cup, and add more water until there is a total of 1⅔ cups (395ml).
- Add the rice flour and cornstarch to the carrot mixture and mix in the 1⅔ cups of liquid until everything is well combined, and there are no visible lumps of flour. Set aside. Spread 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in a 9-inch glass loaf pan, ensuring all sides are evenly coated.
- Prepare your steamer or wok with a steaming rack, ensuring there is enough water. 2 to 3 quarts for 60 minutes of steaming should do the trick. Bring the water to a slow boil.
- Stir your carrot and rice flour mixture again until combined (it will have settled), and pour the batter into the oiled loaf pan. Immediately place the loaf pan on top of the steaming rack. Cover and steam at medium heat for 60 minutes.
- You can double-check that your carrot is done when a thin chopstick can easily penetrate to the bottom of the loaf and the chopstick is not coated in batter. Transfer the loaf pan to a cooling rack. Let rest for 30 minutes. It is normal to have some water on the surface of the carrot rice cake after steaming. It will reabsorb into the loaf.
- At this point, you can prepare your carrot rice cake to eat or refrigerate it for later. When you are ready to serve your carrot rice cake, remove it from the loaf pan. It’s best to run a knife around the loaf to separate the sides from the pan, then turn the loaf pan over onto a cutting board.
- Cut the loaf into ½-inch thick slices, and pan fry in an oiled nonstick pan or frying pan until warmed and slightly crispy. Serve your Carrot Rice Cake with oyster sauce and chili oil on the side!
nutrition facts
Hi Bill,
Thanks for this detailed recipe. I love how you are so thorough and answer the questions of why to do something. I first made this dish using Daikon but it was very watery and I ended up steaming it a long time which never really solved the problem. With this carrot rice cake I followed your directions to a T and it came out perfectly. I think my past problem was that I was new to steaming in a wok so didn’t get the heat high enough plus my mix might have been too watery.
Hi Linda, thank you for reporting your results back to us and glad you figured it out!
Can this be made without pork if someone does not eat meat?
Hi Lily, I have not tried it but yes, you can used some soaked dried shiitake mushrooms in place of the pork ;-)
Hi Lily, you might want to look at our vegetable dumpling’s filling for this bun.
Hello
I was wondering if there was a way to substitute (or omit) the pork to make the recipe vegetarian? I would really like to give it a try!
Hi Alice, substituting some finely chopped rehydrated shiitake mushrooms would be a great substitute. 2 or 3 ounces of dried shiitakes should be enough to replace the meat, but you can always put more if you like. Happy cooking!
All the way to the steamingprocess was easy going and i was already about to get hungry.
But that mixture never got completly steamed thru, the inserted chopstick never came out clean; more heat for the steamer, additional steamingtime.. nothing solved the issue.
The final result was still in shape, could be panfried but texture was f*****
Ps. I have used a bamboosteamer setup instead of a wok with a rack.
Hi Luca, the steamed rice cake has to completely cool and set before it can be cut and pan-fried. When the cake first comes out, the texture is very soft and sticky.
Hey Bill thanks for getting back to me so fast!
Well i managed to cut them with a sharp knife that i rinsed under hot water.
I knew they will still very soft but my chopsticks never came out clean, even after an hour+ steaming, still better on the chopstick. Why?
Hi Luca, the rice cake being sticky inside when hot is totally normal. It needs to cool down completely before slicing. We’re relying more on the cooking time rather than dipping the chopstick for doneness.
Which type of rice flour should I use? In the distant past, I made turnip cake, and I recall that I must have used the wrong type of rice flour.
Thank you!
Hi Jean, use regular rice flour and NOT the glutinous rice flour
I tried this today and am happy overall. Thank you. The one thing that I’d like to improve is how not to have a layer in the bottom that’s just the rice flour and without the other ingredients. Any thoughts on what caused this?
Hi Jocelyn, not sure what happened, but you have to mix everything together really well so layers do not happen – right before you steam!