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Savory Chinese Pumpkin Cake (family recipe)

March 20, 2015 by Jennifer Che 13 Comments

wpid17322-MG_6105.jpg
Note: This post was originally written as a submission for the 8th round of Project Food Blog, an international blogging competition that I ended up winning in 2010 (to see all my posts from that competition, click here).  In round 8 of the competition (out of a total of 10 rounds), contestants had to create a recipe with pumpkin. I made three pumpkin items for my submission: pumpkin mochi cake, pumpkin thousand layer spiral mooncakes, and these savory pumpkin cakes.  The other two recipes have their own posts. I think the savory pumpkin cake is an awesome dish and totally deserving of having its own post!  So here it is. I have re-sized the photos, updated the post a bit, and am republishing it as its own separate post.  Enjoy!

——————————————–

Just imagine with me for a moment . . . .It is the late 1800’s and you are living in Xiamen (Amoy Island) in Southern China. It’s only 6AM, but you know you have to get to the market soon before the rice mill closes.

Rice mill?

Well of course! How else are you going to be able to get the rice to that fine consistency to make your lovely pumpkin cakes? You would hate to have to hand-grind it! Thank God for modern technology! You’re so glad you remembered to soak the rice overnight so that you could bring it to the mill today.

Wait, did you say Pumpkin cake?

Oh, the savory Chinese pumpkin cake is a very unique regional specialty. It’s so localized, you’re not sure if they make this in any other part of China. The dish takes a ton of work, but it’s so worth it. In fact, if there were just one dish you would want to pass down to your family, it would be these scrumptious pumpkin cakes.

After getting your rice milled to a lovely paste, you pick up some pumpkins from the market and begin the laborious task of slowly peeling off thin shreds of pumpkin layer by layer with a knife. It takes a few hours, but eventually you have a huge bowl of finely shredded pumpkin, which you then slowly cook in a huge wok until they are soft.
wpid17342-MG_6066.jpg
Finally, several additional steps later, you serve your family the famous “CHE” pumpkin cakes. Beyond excited, the entire family devours these moist, slightly crunchy, and very pumpkin-y cakes. You think about how long it took you to perfect the skill of making these, and you vow to keep it alive in the family, hopefully for generations to come.

wpid17357-1060103.jpg

Family Traditions
If you haven’t guessed yet, the above story refers to Bryan’s great-grandmother who grew up in southern Fujian in China. We love love love these savory pumpkin cakes and always look forward to having it in the fall when Bryan’s mom makes it for the holidays.

For three generations straight, this pumpkin dish has lived on in the CHE family. Bryan’s mom learned it from Bryan’s grandmother, who likewise learned it from her husband’s mother. Bryan’s mom is now the only person in our extended family who knows how to make this dish. In fact, she is expected to bring it to all family potlucks because everyone loves this dish, yet no one knows how to make it.
wpid17346-MG_6049.jpg
When Challenge 8 for Project Food Blog came around (yes, I’m still in!) with the charge “bake something with pumpkin,” I knew it was time for me to accept my responsibility and keep the family tradition alive. I contacted Bryan’s mom and asked her to teach me how to make the CHE savory pumpkin cake.

In order to add my own spin to the challenge, I also decided to create two sweet interpretations inspired by the traditional CHE family recipe. Note: pumpkin mochi cake and pumpkin thousand layer spiral mooncakes

Traditional Savory Pumpkin Cake
You read above how labor-intensive this dish used to be – can you imagine hand milling rice flour or shredding pumpkins? Bryan’s mom, who emigrated to the US a little over 30 years ago, felt that the traditional Chinese method was TOO time consuming (I can’t believe she actually tried it the traditional way a few times).  She modified the recipe by incorporating modern technology available in western kitchens.
wpid17332-Pumkin1.jpg
Instead of wok-frying tiny shreds of pumpkin into a puree, bake pumpkins (in a pan filled with a little water and covered with foil) at 350 °F for about 1 hour. Mash up the pumpkin puree.

If you want to save even more time, you can use canned pumpkin. Bryan’s mom has experimented with that a few times and it seems to work pretty well. The only caveat is that canned pumpkin tends to have more water than baked pumpkin, so you need to add a bit more flour to get the consistency of the final mixture correct.
wpid17348-MG_6048.jpg wpid17338-MG_6072.jpg
There is a lot of flexibility in what ingredients you choose to put inside the cake. The traditional CHE family recipe uses a mixture of dried shrimp, scallions, shallots, Shitake mushrooms, and pork loin.
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These are separately stir-fried with soy sauce, rice wine, and a few other flavoring agents before being mixed in with the pumpkin.
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Separately, mix the pumpkin puree with rice flour (yay, we can buy it in the market now, no need for hand-milling!). Finally, mix everything together and bake!

You can eat these lovely cakes straight out of the oven. Ideally, though, we like to let them cool, slice them, and then pan fry them for any extra crispiness that’s downright addictive.
wpid17324-1050720.jpg

These were absolutely delicious, and I got Bryan’s stamp of approval (most important judge!!!).  Tons of thanks to both Bryan’s mom and dad for sharing with me the recipe and the story behind the recipe.
 wpid17322-MG_6105.jpg
Savory Chinese Pumpkin Cake (family recipe)
Recipe Type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Chinese
Author: Jennifer Che from Tiny Urban Kitchen
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins
Total time: 2 hours 30 mins
Ingredients
  • 3 lb pumpkin flesh, baked and mashed
  • 1 lb long grain rice flour
  • 1 lb pork loin, cut into 1-2 cm chunks
  • 1 T soy sauce
  • 1 T cornstarch
  • 1 T vegetable oil
  • 1 T Dried shrimp, soaked and rinsed
  • 5-7 Dried shitake mushrooms, soaked, rinsed, and sliced
  • 3-4 shallots, peeled and chopped
  • 3 stalks of scallions, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp five spice powder
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • white pepper (to taste)
  • 1-2 T Chinese Shaoxing rice wine or sherry
Instructions
  1. Stir Fry Ingredients
  2. Mix pork with soy sauce and cornstarch and let marinate for 20 minutes. Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok (or Dutch oven) until hot. Add dried shrimp, Shitake mushrooms, shallots, and scallions and stir fry for a few minutes until the shallots are translucent. Add the marinated pork and stir fry for about a minute. Add five spice powder, garlic powder, white pepper and cooking wine and continue to stir fry until the meat is cooked. Set aside.
  3. The Rice Cake
  4. Mix mashed pumpkin with the rice flour and mix thoroughly. Add the Stir Fry Ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into a well-oiled pan. Put the pan inside of a larger pan full of water. Cover both pans with foil and bake at 350 °F for about 1.5 hours (for a 9×13 pan) or about 40 minutes for individual muffin tins. Time varies depending on the size of the pan, so definitely check often. Cake is done when a toothpick or fork inserted comes out cleanly.
  5. Cool the cakes in the refrigerator. Once cool, slice into 1/2 inch long pieces and pan fried.
3.3.3077

 

Filed Under: Appetizer, Chinese Recipes, Recipe

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Comments

  1. Jason Lee says

    September 17, 2015 at 10:05 am

    I followed your recipe for this particular dish and I would say that it looks the same but it turned out to be extremely doughy. I am not sure if it’s supposed to be that way. The whole thing tasted like flour. Besides, I also found that this pumpkin cake is a bit too tough.

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    • Jennifer Che says

      September 17, 2015 at 6:28 pm

      Did you pan fry it? It tastes a lot better pan fried in a generous amount of oil. Sorry if it didn’t work out for you!
      Jen

      Log in to Reply
  2. An says

    March 21, 2016 at 5:24 pm

    Thanks for the recipe. My grandparents are from Amoy, China as well. My mum used to cook this but stopped because of the long preparation. Tasted just as I remembered!!!! ????

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  3. Mike says

    June 2, 2016 at 12:07 am

    Your recipe looks interesting. I have a Halloween pumpkin that I cut up and cooked down (boiled not baked). About how many cups is 3 lbs? What should the consistency of the batter be like? Have you tried it with Chinese sausage?

    Log in to Reply
  4. singapore foods says

    August 2, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    Thanks for sharing this great tips on how to make a yummy pumpkin cake! i am gonna give this a try. 🙂

    Log in to Reply
  5. Bynemara says

    August 29, 2017 at 1:55 am

    Things made out of pumpkin are really good to taste, I believe that this recipe would be a great one to feed my taste buds.

    Log in to Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Merry Belated Christmas + New York City says:
    December 28, 2015 at 11:58 pm

    […] tradition for the holidays: turkey dinner (since we weren’t home on Thanksgiving), the family CHE pumpkin cakes, and hot […]

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  2. Chinese Recipes Pumpkin | Food Recipes says:
    April 5, 2018 at 1:35 am

    […] Savory Chinese Pumpkin Cake (family recipe) […]

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  3. Visiting the Che Family's Home in Xiamen + an Authentic Home Cooked Feast! - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    July 23, 2018 at 9:44 pm

    […] visa issues forced us to change our vacation at the last minute from Taiwan to Xiamen. We knew Bryan’s paternal family came from Xiamen, so we reached out to his parents, asking them where the old family home was […]

    Log in to Reply
  4. Happy Thanksgiving! Che Family Thanksgiving Turkey - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    November 22, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    […] Remove wings at joint and set aside along with the neck, heart, liver, and gizzard. You will use this to make the gravy later. Rub the inside and outside of the turkey with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Fill the turkey cavity with wine (2-3 cups or more!). Bake, covered partially with foil, breast side down at 325 for 3 hours. Turn the turkey so that the breast is facing up. Remove the foil and put turkey back in the oven to brown. Let turkey cool on rack. Find a pro, ideally someone with an electric knife, to carve the turkey. Serve! Eat with lots of gravy, mashed potato, and cranberry sauce. Repeat multiple times until you can no longer move. Enjoy leftovers for the next several days, perhaps with some Che pumpkin cakes. […]

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  5. Instant Pot Chinese Pumpkin Cake [Pressure Cooker] Plus VIDEO! - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    September 25, 2020 at 12:59 am

    […] to focus on PUMPKIN for this next post. I spruced up a blog post I wrote back in 2010(!) and updated in 2015 about an old family recipe from Bryan’s […]

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  6. Visiting Family in Los Angeles During Covid - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    January 20, 2022 at 10:04 am

    […] mom made all of Bryan’s favorite foods (which he hasn’t had in close to 2 years!). Because we couldn’t be home for Thanksgiving, […]

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  7. Visiting Family in Los Angeles During Covid - Urban Ag Report says:
    January 20, 2022 at 10:06 am

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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