港式蘿蔔糕 Hong Kong Style Turnip cakes

蘿蔔糕不僅是過年必做的經典年菜單品之一！也是華人最愛點心之一！對我來講也有濃濃的對過年的回憶。我們家很喜歡吃飲茶，每次都必須要點幾份蘿蔔糕。台灣傳統的蘿蔔糕是純米加上白蘿蔔做成的，單純是吃在來米及白蘿蔔的香氣，但是我喜歡料多的港式蘿蔔糕更勝一籌，裡面的香菇、蝦米、及臘腸讓蘿蔔糕更升級了！

The turnip rice cake is one of the classic Chinese New Year dishes! It is also one of the most popular dishes in the Chinese culture. To me, it also brought back lots of childhood memories of family gathering during Chinese New Year. We love eating out at the dim sum places, and we always have to order some of these babies for sure! In Taiwan, turnip rice cakes are usually just made out of long rice and daikon( White long Asian radishes/ turnips) only. People enjoy the simple and original flavor of the rice and daikon. However, I personally like the Hong Kong Style turnip rice cakes more. With dried mushrooms, dried shrimps, and aged Cantonese style sausages, the turnip rice cakes are more flavorful and fragrant.

the small alley to head to the fields 通往田地的小巷弄

以前小時候外婆跟二阿姨都會去隔壁磨米漿，小孩去田裡幫忙拔白蘿蔔！我還記得我小時候幫忙拔蘿蔔的時候就像故事裡講的一樣拔不動，還找了表弟表妺一起拔，結果好不容易拔出來了，但是整根蘿蔔還在土裡，小孩們只拉了一小段蘿蔔跌到了田邊的溝裡。。好好笑喔～印象還很深刻！真希望以前也有手機可以直播給大家笑！帶著歡笑和白蘿蔔，回到外婆家的廚房，還有一個大的灶，要用木柴生火的那種，大家在裡面看著阿嬤（外婆的台語說法）跟阿姨變出一大籠、一大籠剛蒸出來香噴噴的蘿蔔糕，因為媽媽有四個姐妹，所以初二回娘家是最熱鬧的一天，小孩到田裡玩耍，大人在廚房忙著年節的大餐，我們從北部回去的就在彰化田尾的外婆家繼續過寒假，然後其他女兒們帶這滿滿愛心得蘿蔔糕回家，真的有吃又有拿真幸福！

When I was little, we love going to my grandma’s house(my mom’s mom) for Chinese New Year. In traditional Chinese Culture, daughters who have married can only return home to celebrate Chinese New Year on the second day of the new year. My mom has 4 younger sisters. Therefore, the 2nd day of the new year has been the funnest gathering day during the celebration for my family. My 2nd aunt and her family lives with my grandparents in the country side of Taiwan called Tien-Wei in Chuang Hwa County. My aunt would take soaked rice with water to the neighbor who has the machine to grind those rice into rice milk. Then, the kids are other adults would go to the fields to pull some Daikon like the old style way. Since we live in the city, it was so new and fun to me. But being said….I didn’t know how to pull the daikons out properly. I asked my cousins to help me. We had to pull so hard for a while……Then, finally, we got it pulled out. But then we found out the huge daikon was still in the ground and we failed off to the ditch in the field with only tiny bit of the daikon head in my hand. Oh…. that was so hilarious. I wish we had phone with Data to go live and show all of you! Then back to the kitchen, my grandma and my aunt would do the magic work to make the Taiwanese style turnip rice cake with the old fashion stove that used wood and sticks to make fire. Since we came all the way from Taipei, we would stay in my grandma’s house for the rest of the winter break. The rest of other relatives would go home with the freshly made turnip rice cakes. That’s how conservative Chinese people show their love to the loved ones. How I miss the time to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family!