As much as I enjoy just eating plain radish cake, I thought it would be good to show how versatile of a dish it can be. We are building off our previous radish cake recipe and adding a punch of flavor from some XO sauce.
What is XO sauce you may ask? According to a quick Google search, XO sauce is a spicy seafood sauce from Hong Kong that is full of umami flavor. I am mixing it up today with a vegan version to pair with my vegan radish cake.
DO NOT use freshly made radish cake. You want the radish cake to be completely cooled and preferably chilled for a least a day before you make this recipe. This will help the radish cake keep its form when you add it to the wok.
For the bean sprouts and green onion, you don’t really want to cook them. Take your wok off the heat before adding the sprouts and green onion. The residual heat will warm them up, but it will still keep the crunch of the bean sprouts.
Keep your XO sauce on your cake, not the floor,
Your favorite alternative chefs, K & T
Vegan XO Sauce Fried Radish Cake
Ingredients
½ of an 8”x8” Radish Cake, cut into 1-inch cubes
¼ lb of bean sprouts
3 green onions, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Vegan XO sauce
- 1½ ounces dried mushrooms
- 1 large shallot
- 2 cloves garlic
- 20 dried chili peppers
- 1½ tbsp vegetable oil
- 1½ tsp coconut sugar
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1½ tsp kosher salt
Instructions
Vegan XO sauce
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Soak dried mushrooms in water for at least 15 minutes. Save ¼ cup of the mushroom water.
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In a blender/food processor, pulse the garlic and shallot until minced. Scrape mixture out into a small bowl and set aside. Repeat with the mushrooms and set aside in a separate bowl. Lastly, pulse the dried chili peppers.
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In a large wok, heat oil over medium heat. Add shallot and garlic mixture, saute until golden brown (about 3 minutes). Next, add the mushrooms and stir fry for 2 more minutes. Lastly, add the chilies and stir fry for another 2 minutes.
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Pour in the mushroom water and let simmer until almost all the liquid is absorbed.
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Season with the coconut sugar, cumin, and kosher salt. Stir fry for another 2 minutes before removing from heat. (Can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week).
Radish Cake
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Heat up vegetable oil in a large wok over medium high heat. Add radish cake and sear for 3-4 minutes on each side, until you have a nice crisp. You can sear all 6 sides if you want, but that’s up to you! (You may need to do this in 2 batches depending on the size of your wok).
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Add your vegan XO sauce to the wok. Your batch size will impact the amount of vegan XO sauce you use. I used about ⅓ cup for ½ of my cake.
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Stir fry radish cake until well coated in the vegan XO sauce for about 2 minutes.
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Lastly, turn off the heat, then add your bean sprouts and green onion. Toss everything together and serve.