Fried Carrot (radish) Cake - Singapore

My perennial all-time favourite breakfast food

I know my blog posts have been sparse. Do bear with me. I'm trying to blog more now that we're into our 6th week of being in our new abode.

Cooking with our new induction stove has been ...hmm.... a learning curve. Who would have thought right?

The induction stove heats up so quickly that garlic gets burnt really fast! I've had to discard garlic which I had painstakingly chopped because it charred in seconds after being thrown into the pan. I'm even unable to allow sauce to simmer without keeping an eye on it because the bottom of the pan burns so quickly!

For this reason, while I'm experimenting with the different levels of heat on my stove, I'm usually unwilling to cook fancy meals. The good thing is that there is a timer function for each individual hob so I no longer have to rely on a manual timer.

Still, after 5 weeks of eating quick meals I was starting to crave for real Singaporean meals. Facebook ain't the best place for a Singaporean living overseas, with the avalanche of food shots inundating my news feed. I have even blocked certain pages simply because I couldn't tolerate the whole seeing-but-not-eating feeling.

We finally made it down to the asian store recently and I stocked up on my necessities. One of the things I'd buy is rice flour because that's exactly what I need for my all-time favourite - Chai Tao Kway, or rather fried carrot cake done the Singaporean way.

I'm proud to say that Sammy loves it and he keeps telling me "Nice. Sammy likes it!" Gabriel is still not entirely convinced at its taste, but he's currently in a phase when he's simply not eating well and drooling a lot. His nights have been very tough too cos he would scream for no reason. We're hoping that it's just a phase of teething and that things would soothe itself out.

It was sooo good satisfying my craving. I had this with some sambal chilli.

If you're interested, this is my photo documentary of how I made the cake. The original recipe is here and I've adapted it for myself here.

Ingredients:

- 1 radish, grated (about 500 grams)
- 250 grams water
- 200 grams rice flour
- 1/4 tsp salt

1.  Puree the radish with a bit of water in a puree machine / babycook. Drain.

2. Mix the above ingredients and steam it over high heat for about 40 mins or until you get a smooth cake.

3. Allow the cake to cool before cutting it into small pieces to fry.


Ingredients:

- 5 cloves Garlic (chopped) 
- 2 tbsp Chai Por (preserved radish. Soak in water for 5 mins and drain)
- 3 Eggs, beaten
- Fish sauce to taste
- Tai Hwa sweet black sauce (I import mine directly from Singapore)
- Spring Onions (chopped)

3. Heat up some oil in a wok. Fry the carrot cake until crisp and a bit browned.

4. Add Chai por and chopped garlic. Add more oil if it gets too dry.

5. Add fish sauce to season.

6. Pour beaten egg over fried carrot cake. Allow egg to cook for a bit before flipping it over.

7. Add spring onions and fry. (I like my spring onions cooked)

8. Add sweet black sauce and coat. I add mine generously because I like my carrot cake sweet. You can omit this step if you prefer the white version.