Before our baby came along, one of my husband's and my favourite breakfast haunts was in a coffee shop near Katib MRT. It's also where we'll have our routine breakfast before we set off for those Malaysia getaways (our little S.O.P.).
We'll order the same thing for every visit - 2 plates of dark Chai Tow Kway (fried carrot cake), 2 sets of toasted white bread with butter and kaya served with half-boiled eggs, and 2 cups of Teh Si (Tea with milk and sugar).
It's been so long since we'd enjoyed that spread. So, one morning, I decided to give my husband a pleasant surprise by bringing the Katib Breakfast home. Instead, I got the surprise when I realised that the kway did not turn out well - other than being a little too salty, it was rather unpalatable.
What happened?? It was the recipe I've been using all along - hubby loved it. Did I put in too little oil or is it because I fried the dish for too long? What actually happened?
For the rest of that morning, I was bothered by my failure. Our favourite breakfast no more... I was so ashamed of myself for not being able to deliver such a simple dish. Then, on a whim, I resolved to tweak the existing recipe until I get it right and blog out the modified recipe nicely so that there'll be no more such surprises in the future.
As luck would have it, I hit the jackpot after a few tries and managed to save my day :) Talking about making everyday count!
PS: My version of Chai Tow Kway is unlike the authentic version which uses radish (literally called luo bo in Mandarin, which means 'carrots'). I sort of replaced it with the orangey carrots that we are familiar with.
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| Fried carrot cake - dark version. My lunch for that afternoon. Yummy! |
Recipe
Serves 2 hungry tummies, each serving 550 kcal
2 Tbsp oil (use canola/sunflower oil for a healthier version)
1 tsp minced shallot
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup grated carrot (for the added texture and natural sweetness)
450g ready-made carrot cake (rice cake), diced into small cubes
2 beaten eggs
Chopped spring onion, as much as you can handle! (It's filled with vitamin A and C)
50 ml water
For the sauce (mix all well in a cup)
2 Tbsp light soya sauce
2 Tbsp dark sweet sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp fish sauce
Few dashes white pepper powder
1. In a deep pan on medium fire, heat oil and fry shallot and garlic till fragrant.
2. Next, fry the carrots for a few minutes. Then, fry the diced rice cake. At this point, mix in the water and cover the pan to steam the carrot and rice cake till they're softer, about 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Remove the pan cover, stir the rice cake briefly and let the steam evaporate till dish is drier. Next, pour in the beaten eggs all over the rice cake evenly. When eggs are almost done, flip the cakes over, section by section, to cook the other side briefly. Then, break up the rice cake into little pieces, pour in the sauce evenly, and mix everything well.
4. Finally, turn off heat, sprinkle the spring onions atop (stir a little here if you want) and serve warm.
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| Ready-made rice cake, grated carrots, and spring onions. |