Not to be confused with Char kway teow.
Chai tow kway (Chye Tow Kuay)
Chai tow kway.jpg
Alternative names Fried carrot cake, carrot cake
Course Yum cha
Place of origin Chaoshan area, Guangdong, Southern China
Region or state Chaoshan (China), Singapore and Malaysia
Creator Teochew people
Main ingredients steamed rice flour, water, and shredded white daikon
Variations Turnip cake
Cookbook: Chai tow kway (Chye Tow Kuay) Media: Chai tow kway (Chye Tow Kuay)
Chai tow kway
Traditional Chinese 菜頭粿
Simplified Chinese 菜头粿
Hokkien : chhài-thâu-kué, chhài-thâu-ké
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin càitóu guǒ
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ chhài-thâu-kué, chhài-thâu-ké
Chai tow kway is a common dish or dim sum of Teochew cuisine in Chaoshan (China), Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, consisting of stir-fried cubes of radish cake.
It is also known as "fried carrot cake" or simply "carrot cake" in Southeast Asian countries, as the word for daikon (POJ: chhài-thâu), one of its main ingredients, can also refer to a carrot (POJ: âng-chhài-thâu, literally "red radish"). wThere is no connection between this dish and the sweet Western carrot cake eaten as a dessert. It is called "carrot cake" because of a loose English from Hokkien translation of "radish pastry" is called "chai tow (carrot or radish) kway (cake)", which caught on among the non-native speaking diners, due to its unique misnomer. This misnomer gave the title to a popular guidebook on Singapore's street food, There's No Carrot in Carrot Cake, which was written by Dr. Olivia Law, published by Epigram Books in 2010.
Ingredients
It is made with radish cake (steamed rice flour, water, and shredded white daikon), which is then stir-fried with eggs, preserved radish, and other seasonings. The radish cake is often served in large rectangular slabs which are steamed and then later fried whole.
Alternatives to chai tow kway include those made of taro or solely of rice flour.
The radish cake can also be eaten on its own, either just steamed, or steamed and then pan-fried, as opposed to the steamed then wok-fried with other ingredients in chai tow kway. Both the steamed and pan-fried varieties are commonly served topped with spring onions.
Variations
The versions served by hawkers in Johor and Singapore, where Teochews live, are typically prepared by frying the daikon cake with chopped preserved turnip, diced garlic, eggs, and Chinese fish sauce in place of soya sauce. Chopped spring onion is added just before serving. As you go northwards (e.g. in Kuala Lumpur), the same dish is darker due to the use of dark soya sauce, and bean sprouts are added. The "black version" mentioned below is not "chai tow kway", but "char kway" and uses rice cake fried with garlic (usually no preserved daikon), bean sprouts, eggs and thick sweet dark sauce.
In Singapore, however, it is more commonly cut into pieces and stir fried with eggs, garlic, spring onion and occasionally shrimp (both dried and fresh). There are two variants: the "white" version does not use sweet soy sauce, and the carrot cake is fried on top of a beaten egg to form a crust; the "black" version uses sweet sauce (molasses) and the egg is simply mixed in with the carrot cake.
Cultural importance
The dish has many fans, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia, where it is enjoyed by people of different dialect groups and races, and not just the Teochews, and is served in a range of establishments ranging from the simplest hawkers to the most expensive Chinese restaurants. It is a much-loved local comfort food in the region, and can be consumed at various times of the day; it goes from being a breakfast dish, to a side dish, to a late-night supper dish. Many public figures are also known to have a fondness for the dish. Notably, the Singapore politician Chan Chun Sing has indicated his love for the dish in one of his speeches, indicating a preference of a particular variant of the dish (specifically the "S$10 XO Sauce chye tow kuay"),[1] as opposed to the one commonly found in hawker centres and coffee shops, thus illustrating the many variations of the dish available in the region.
The Best Fried Carrot Cake Hawkers in Singapore 菜头粿
Chai Tow Kway, Fried Radish Cake
Fried Carrot Cake
Fried carrot cake at Chey Sua Carrot Cake in Toa Payoh
1) Song Zhou Luo Bo Gao
Open for breakfast Open for lunch Open for dinner
Bedok Town Centre Food Centre #01-37
Block 208B New Upper Changi Road S(462208)
2) Katong Jago's Carrot Cake
Open for breakfast
228 East Coast Road S(428925)
3) Lau Goh Teochew Fried Carrot Cake
Open for lunch Open for dinner Zion Riverside Food Centre Stall 26
70 Zion Road S(247792)
Closed on Tuesdays
4) Fu Ming Cooked Food
Open for lunch Open for dinner Open late night
Redhill Market and Food Centre #01-49
85 Redhill Lane S(150085)
5) Yuen Cheng Fried Carrot Cake
Open for breakfast Open for lunch Block 79 Telok Blangah Drive #01-33 S(090029)
6)Heng Carrot Cake
Open for dinner Open late night
Newton Food Centre #01-28
500 Clemenceau Avenue North S(229495)
Closed on Tuesdays
7) Hai Sheng Carrot Cake
Open for breakfast Open for lunch Open for dinner
Ang Mo Kio Ave 6 Market and Food Centre #01-09
Blk 724 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6 S(560724)
8) Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake
Open for breakfast Open for lunch Open for dinner Open late night
Bukit Merah View Food Centre #01-279
Blk 115 Bukit Merah View S(151115)
9) Stall 36 Chomp Chomp
Open for dinner Open late night
Chomp Chomp Food Centre Stall 36
20 Kensington Park Road S(557269)
Closed on alternate Tuesdays
10) Chey Sua Carrot Cake
Open for breakfast Open for lunch Open for dinner
Toa Payoh Block 127 Market and Food Centre #02-30
127 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh. S(310127)
Closed on Mondays
11) He Zhong Carrot Cake
Open for breakfast Open for lunch Open for dinner
Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre #02-185
51 Upper Bukit Timah Road.
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