Chai Tow Kway (Fried Carrot Cake)
Chai tow kway is made with rice flour batter that's steamed, cooled, then fried. It may be seasoned with sweet black soya sauce to make black chai tow kway, or without to make the white version. Black or white, chai tow kway is best eaten piping hot. This recipe uses vegetable oil because that's what most people have. Traditionally, chai tow kway is fried with lard.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 55 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 250 g grated radish
- 480 g water
- 150 g rice flour
- 12 g cornflour
- 12 g wheat starch
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 220 g water
- 40 g minced salted radish (chai poh, 菜脯) ( Twin Rabbit brand)
- 2 tsp light soya sauce
- 4 eggs
- 20 g garlic
- 100 ml vegetable oil
- 2 tsp light soya sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- sambal chilli to taste
- 200 g bean sprouts
- 40 g spring onions
Instructions
- 1
Kway must be steamed at least 5-6 hours before frying. Or you can steam it 3-4 days ahead if you like.
- 2
To make steamed kway, place radish in a small pot. Add 480 g water. Weigh pot and contents. Take note of weight. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, till radish is soft, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat. Remove cover. Wait till evaporation stops, about 10 minutes. Weigh pot and contents again. Weight should be lower by 100 g. Top up with water or discard excess liquid as necessary.
- 3
Whilst radish is simmering, assemble rice flour, cornflour, wheat starch, salt, oil and 220 g water in a wok. Stir batter till smooth. When radish is ready, add radish liquid. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, till batter is creamy. Add cooked radish. Continue cooking and stirring, reducing heat to low as batter thickens, till batter is thick but not thick enough to hold its shape. Pour batter into 18 x 5 cm round cake pan. Level and smooth top. If you have difficulty smoothing the batter, that means it's too thick and your kway will be hard. If the top is smooth without human assistance, the batter is too thin and your kway will be mushy.
- 4
Steam batter over rapidly bubbling water till cooked, i.e. inserted skewer comes out almost clean. This takes about 40 minutes.
- 5
Remove cake from steamer. Leave till cool, an hour or so. Refrigerate till firm, at least 4-5 hours.
- 6
Rinse chai poh twice. Soak 2-3 minutes in enough water to cover. Taste. Soak longer if too salty. Drain thoroughly.
- 7
Add light soya sauce to eggs. Whisk thoroughly.
- 8
Peel and roughly mince garlic. Rinse bean sprouts and drain. Rinse spring onions. and chop roughly.
- 9
Cut chilled, firm kway into bite-sized pieces.
- 10
Heat well-seasoned wok till very hot. Place 1/3 of oil in the wok. Heat till just smoking, swirling so that oil coats bottom of wok.
- 11
Add steamed kway. Spread in a single layer. Fry over high heat till lightly golden. Turn over. Drizzle with a little oil. Fry till second side is also lightly golden, stirring to check if it is.
- 12
Add chai poh and garlic. Drizzle with more oil. Stir to mix thoroughly. Drizzle with 2 tsp light soya sauce and 1 tsp fish sauce. Stir thoroughly. Alternate frying and stirring till kway is nicely brown and aroma of chai poh is released, drizzling with more oil when wok looks dry.
- 13
Add seasoned eggs, followed by more oil. Turn over when bottom of eggs is golden brown, pressing lightly with spatula after flipping to help eggs stick to kway. Fry till golden brown again.
- 14
Add sambal. (If you prefer black CTK, add sweet black soya sauce now, about 1 tbsp per portion.) Stir till thoroughly mixed.
- 15
Add bean sprouts, then more oil. Stir till bean sprouts are heated through but not wilted.
- 16
Add spring onions, leaving aside 1 tbsp or so. Stir through. Quickly taste and, if necessary, adjust seasoning with pinch of sugar if too salty or a few drops of fish sauce if too bland. Plate, sprinkle with remaining spring onions and serve immediately.