Fried Carrot (Radish) Cake 炒蘿蔔糕

Observing an expert is always a good way to learn. I learned how to fry this from watching the hawker stall owner while waiting for my order during my childhood days. At that time, I wished I didn't have to wait so long for the food. But looking back, I learnt something in the process of waiting which I can enjoy today.

This is a very popular and common food in Singapore - I loved to eat it for both breakfast and lunch. You can also find this delicious dish in many dimsum restaurants these days.

This carrot/radish cake recipe is slightly different compared to my previous radish cake recipe in the following ways:











1) Today's recipe
This cake is cooked and steamed plain, before being pan-fried with eggs and simple condiments. I call this the 'humble' version.

2) Previous recipe
That cake was cooked with more ingredients and seasonings, before being steamed. It can be eaten steamed or pan-fried. I call that the 'deluxe' version.

I use a little less water for this cake compared to the previous one to make it firmer and more suitable for pan + a little stir-frying. For pan-frying, my mom shared this neat tip to increase crispness: do not add all the oil in one go - add some first and the rest later. Similar to the food stalls, I prefer to use a large flat-bottom non-stick pan for pan-frying.

Recipe - Serves 4
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Ingredients

Plain cake
600g white Chinese radish / daikon - grated
1/2 cup (120ml) water
2 tbsp. cooking oil
1/4 tsp salt
1¾ cups (210g) rice flour
1/4 cup (30g) wheat starch
2 cups (480ml) water

Pan-frying
* I use a large flat-bottom pan and fry the cake in 2 batches. Do not overcrowd the pan or the cake will not be crisp. These portions are for pan-frying 1/2 of cake (serves 2), double the portions for the whole cake (serves 4).
1/2 of steamed cake, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp preserved radish (chai poh), minced (optional)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
3 eggs, beaten
few dashes of pepper
1 stalk scallion, chopped finely

Steps:

(A) To make plain cake
1) Peel and grate radish. Mix the rice flour, wheat starch and 2 cups water in a large bowl.

2) Heat up 2 tbsp. of oil in the wok. Add grated radish, 1/2 cup of water and cook till soft and translucent. Add salt.

3) Turn the heat down to medium-low, give the flour and water batter a good stir and add to cooked radish. Stir the batter continuously, scraping the sides and bottom if batter sticks. Cook the batter until it becomes a thick paste, like a thick oatmeal.

4) Transfer the batter into a greased container for steaming. Steam over high heat for about 45 minutes.

5) Transfer cake to a cooling rack. It will firm up once it has cooled down. Refrigerate 2-3 hours or overnight for a firmer texture.

(B) Pan-frying the cake
I use a large flat-bottom pan and fry the cake in 2 batches. Do not overcrowd the pan or the cake will not be crisp. These instructions are for 1/2 of cake.

6) Once cake has firmed up, cut into 1 inch (or 1.5 inch) cubes.

7) Over high heat, heat up 1 tbsp of oil in large flat-bottom pan. Add the cake cubes onto pan and spread out evenly in one layer. Pan-fry till browned on one side and use a thin spatula to flip them over. Add another 1 tbsp of oil midway and continue to pan-fry till some sides are browned.

8) Push cake to the sides, add garlic/preserved radish into center of pan. (Add 1/2 tsp of oil if it's too dry.) Fry till garlic/preserved radish is aromatic then mix with cake. Add fish sauce, sweet soy sauce and mix well with cake. Try not to 'mash-up' the cake too much. Beat eggs and pour over pan evenly. When egg is slightly browned on the bottom side, use a thin spatula to flip the cake over. Cook till egg is done on the other side.

9) Remove from pan, sprinkle some pepper and scallion and serve hot.