Hi ! 

Every month we explore the who, what, where, when and why of an important topic so by the end of the month, you’ll have more information and confidence to make meaningful changes to eat and live better with IBD.

This month’s theme: Root vegetables

Quick recap: Root veggies don’t get their rightful praise. They’re beautiful, satiating, tasty and tolerated by most people with IBD. Over the last three weeks we discussed why these staple vegetables are excellent choices for people with active IBD or anyone else following a low-fiber diet, and we shared valuable IBD-specific nutrition and cooking tips for carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabaga and beets.

Previously, on Wellness By Food:

Week 1: Root vegetables overview

Week 2: Carrots and Parsnips

Week 3: Turnips, Rutabaga and Beets

Week 4: Taro 

Bertina’s Culinary Experiment: Turnip Cake

As promised, we’re wrapping up this month’s root veggie series with a fun post-holiday cooking challenge inspired by a reader question:

“Does Bertina know how to make the turnip pudding dim sum squares? (In case you never tried them, they have a yummy mild flavor with smooth yet firm texture like baked custard.)”

Turnip cake (called Lo Bak Go) is a popular Chinese dim sum dish, and I get it every time I eat dim sum. My grandparents made it fresh each year for Chinese New Year, but I had never made it … until now!

Since I didn’t have my grandparents’ recipe, I googled a popular recipe to kick-start my Turnip cake experiment.

In my attempt to make a gut-friendlier version, I left out the dried shrimp and Chinese sausages. Also, I opted for fresh mushrooms instead of dried ones since they were easier to find in my local supermarket. 

In terms of difficulty, it wasn’t hard to make, but it was time-consuming, particularly the prep work (grating the turnips, chopping the scallions and mushrooms, pre-cooking the turnips) and then steaming the turnip cake.

My Mistakes

Let me tell you right away that these turnip cakes didn’t turn out well. I tried two batches and wasn’t happy with either. However, I’m OK with this because I had fun making them and learned a few things.

Historically, I prefer cooking with a pot and pan instead of baking. But in 2020,

I’ve been baking more and more, especially with my new standing mixer. As a result, we have quite a few types of flours in the kitchen.

Instead of rice flour, I ended up grabbing glutinous rice flour from my cabinet as the base for the turnip cakes. If you are not familiar with glutinous rice flour, it’s the flour used for mochi, which is very gooey and sticky. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize my mistake until it was too late. As you expect, the turnip cakes turned out to be a lumpy gooey mess. I tried salvaging them by frying them, and the flavor was good but the gooey texture was not at all appealing.

At least Kyla found it funny.

In my second attempt, I used a different type of turnip. Let me explain... Before I began these experiments, we had a hard time finding Chinese turnips. As a result, I ended up buying two types of turnip - a long white one (also called a daikon radish) and a couple of small round ones with a reddish tone. Since I used the daikon radish in my first attempt, and we couldn’t find any more, I used the other smaller sized turnips in my second test. Following the same instructions as the first go (except with the right flour!), the texture was much better, but they tasted much more bitter.

My Takeaways

I learned a few things in my two failed attempts in making turnip cakes:

1. Not all rice flours are created equal. Glutinous rice flour really changes the texture of this dish and I should be careful to use the correct flour next time.
2. Although Daikon radishes and turnips are in the same family, they taste quite different. While the turnips have a peppery taste, the daikon radishes are mild with a slightly sweet taste. Personally, I prefer the daikon radish for my “Lo Bak Go” dish, which is more similar to a Chinese turnip. For those who don’t mind the peppery taste, give the turnips a go. I would love to hear your thoughts!
3. Now for the most important takeaway — It’s OK to “fail” when you’re trying a new recipe! I had fun experimenting, learned a couple of new things, and Kyla got a kick watching me make mistakes. It’s all good in the end :)  

Based on what I’ve learned, I think my third attempt will be a winner. I plan on making this dish again, but I need a break - I’m still recovering from cooking and eating for the holidays. I’ll share our recipe once we have perfected our turnip cakes.

Coming up 

That wraps up this month’s newsletter series on root vegetables and IBD, but there’s more to come on this topic on our blog. As promised, we’ll merge each week’s newsletter plus your terrific questions, suggestions, and other feedback into one easy-to-read blog post! We’ll let you know when it’s live on the blog!

See you next week with a new theme for December!

________

Did you know that smoothies are one of the simplest and tastiest ways for people with inflammatory bowel disease to consume wholesome foods, including fruits, vegetables and other high-fiber foods, like nuts and seeds EVEN while following a “low-fiber” diet.

Learn everything you ever wanted to know in our book Smoothies to the Rescue!  

Check it out

Do you have a question about these topics, or something else? Just reply with your question to this email and it may appear in an upcoming newsletter.

In good health,

Colleen, Bertina & Scott

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is in no way intended as medical counseling or medical advice. Results may vary