Chai Tow Kway
Cubes of steamed radish and rice flour cake pan-fried with egg, preserved radish and garlic until crisp at the edges.
Photograph credit: Turnip cake at Chua Lam's Dim Sum (20201120174336) (image of turnip cake on Wikidata… by N509FZ · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
It is called carrot cake, but there is no carrot in it. The "carrot" is white radish, daikon, grated and cooked down with rice flour into a firm, steamed cake, which is cooled, cubed and fried with egg. The result is crisp outside, soft inside and savoury all through.
Make the cake a day ahead if you can, or at least 2 hours before frying. It has to cool and firm up completely. Fresh from the steamer it is soft and falls apart in the pan. Chill it overnight and it cuts cleanly.
The batter is made by cooking grated daikon in its own juices for 10 minutes, then mixing it with rice flour, cornflour, water and a little white pepper. Pour into a lined tin and steam for 45 minutes.
To finish, cut into 2 cm cubes. Heat oil in a wok, fry garlic and preserved radish for 30 seconds, add the cubes and leave them untouched for 2 minutes, until golden. Pour beaten egg over, let it set into a crust, then toss. Season with light soy sauce and, for the black version, a little sweet dark soy.
What People Ask
How long does Chai Tow Kway take to make?
30 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking, plus 2 hours of Cooling and setting the cake, so allow 3 hours 45 minutes from start to finish. The method also needs time for cooling, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 6.
Chai Tow Kway: Step by Step
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Cook the daikon in a pan with 100 ml of the water for 10 minutes until soft. Cool slightly.
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Whisk the rice flour, cornflour, remaining water, salt, pepper and sugar until smooth. Mix with the daikon and its liquid and the dried shrimp.
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Pour into a lined 20 cm square tin. Steam for 45 minutes until firm. Cool, then chill for at least 2 hours.
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Cut the cake into 2 cm cubes.
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Heat the oil in a wok over a high heat. Fry the garlic and preserved radish for 30 seconds. Add the cake cubes and leave for 2 minutes until golden, then turn.
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Pour the eggs over the cubes, let them set for 30 seconds and toss. Add the soy sauce, spring onions and chilli.
Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Pan and tin size.
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Tips That Matter
- Use a non-stick wok to stop the cake sticking.
- Chill the cake overnight for the cleanest cubes.
- Add a spoonful of sweet dark soy sauce for the black version.
Swaps and Variations
- Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
- Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the red chilli. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
Serve It With
Sambal chilli · Hot tea · Kopi · Chilli sauce
Storage
The steamed cake keeps in the fridge for 3 days. Fry fresh each time.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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