Carrot Cake Recipe

I posted photos of the carrot cake that I made on my Facebook, and a friend asked me to share the recipe, so here it is. Please note that this recipe is originally adopted from http://ieatishootipost.sg/2013/05/carrot-cake-chai-tow-kueh-recipe-with.html (credits to be given to ieatishootipost) with modifications made (written in blue) to the recipe according to our taste and to fill up my 10” by 3” round tin pan based on what my mum taught me. 

Ingredients:

~750g radish after peeling and cutting

500g rice flour

20g tapioca flour (or you can use cornstarch if you don't have tapioca flour)

10g salt

15g sugar

2.05L water (1350ml for radish, 700ml for flour)

Chye Poh (菜脯) - 1 packet

Garlic - 2 cloves

Important Notes:

- Radish: Best is to get Japanese Daikon.  It is more expensive than the local ones which you can buy from the local markets. If you are buying the ones at the market, go for the ones from Cameron highlands instead of the ones from China.  

- Rice flour: Make sure it is the wet milled type and not the dry milled type, which is used to make batter for deep frying.  

Steps:

1) Cut the radish into strips which are about twice the size of matchsticks.  Cutting the radish is better than shredding it because when you shred it, the juices tend to leech out of the radish.  Cutting it also means it is a little thicker and so it gives it a better bite. (I used a food combo processor to cut the radish, saves time!)

2) Mix the rice flour and tapioca flour (or cornstarch) with 700ml water into a thick slurry.

3) Heat up the water in a separate pot and add salt, sugar and alternative to MSG such as dried cuttlefish, konbu, ikan bilis, dried scallops etc to give the stock a bit of umami flavour.  You can of course use a bit of chicken stock powder but just take note that it is as good as adding msg.  So if you are doing it as a shortcut to making your own chicken stock then it is ok, but if you are trying to avoid msg, then it is not ok.

4) Once your stock is ready, add the radishes into the boiling water and cook until the radish turns translucent. (5-10mins)

5) Next add the flour mixture to the radish and stir until it has thickened evenly. (I removed whatever that's added to give the umami flavour from Step 4 above before adding the flour mixture into it.)

6) Oil the pan and then add the thicken mixture. 

7) Steam for 2 hours and leave overnight in the fridge to set.

Steps to prepare the Chye Poh condiments:

Finely chop two cloves of garlic and add them to the Chye Poh.  Add some vegetable oil and cook until the chye poh turns brown.  You may add some sugar if you prefer your chye poh to be sweeter.

Instructions on frying:

*Advise to use a non stick pan.  It actually works pretty well and is more practical for most people.  

1. Cut the carrot cake into 2 cm cubes.  

2. Add oil to the pan and when it is hot, add the cubes of carrot cake.  Press the carrot cake down gently onto the pan so that it breaks.  This creates an irregular surface which enables the chye poh and fish sauce to stick to.  This is much better then chopping the carrot cake with a knife into smaller cubes as you get only smooth surface on your carrot cake that way.  That is why its better to start with larger cubes and break it into irregular shaped smaller chunks. The aim is to have some large pieces where you can taste the rice and radish and some smaller pieces that get charred and coated with chye poh and fish sauce. 

3. Add fish sauce and continue to fry (I did not add fish oil though as I don't want to buy it just for frying carrot cake.)

4. Add Chye Poh mixture and continue to fry till it develops and nice crust. 

5. Add an egg (I added some prawns as well before adding the egg) and fry till brown.  Serve with chopped spring onions and a dash of white pepper.

Black Version

With the black version, add the dark sauce towards the end of the frying process.  Fry till you develop some crust on the carrot cake and then reduce the heat and add the sweet black sauce.  Toss until evenly coasted.  Then turn off the fire and add some more sweet sauce, stir fry till even and then serve. Note:  Sweet black sauce turns bitter if subjected to too much heat. (I did not add sweet black sauce as I don't like my carrot cake to be sweet, instead I added chilli to make it a bit spicy.)

Final note: I fry the carrot cake 1 portion by 1 portion to tailor the taste to different family members.

Another Drink "Remedy" for Cough - Mint Leaf Drink

Mint Leaf Drink is another drink that I learnt, which can help to relieve cough symptoms. This was taught by my mum. She called it Lemon Leaf Drink although from the look of the leaf, it looks more like Mint Leaf than Lemon Leaf; hence, I called it Mint Leaf Drink. Here's the simple recipe to share.

Recipe:
*Please vary the recipe accordingly if you're boiling a bigger pot of water with more mint leaves.

Ingredients:
1) ~12 Mint Leaves (size of leaves vary, so adjust accordingly)
2) Rock Sugar

Preparation:
1) Wash the mint leaves. Soak the leaves for about 5 minutes.

2) Fill the pot with water to half mark (half pot of water).
Tip: Some kids may not like the smell of the mint leaves; hence, you may wish to add more water or lesser leaves, to dilute the drink, if you're trying out this drink for the first time for your children.

3) Bring the pot of water with mint leaves to boil. After the water is boiled, turn to low fire and continue to boil for about 15 minutes (with the lid covered).

4) Add rock sugar according to your taste (or make it sweeter for your young children, especially if they don't like the smell of the leaves, or not so sweet for elderly folks). 

5) The following picture is what you get when the drink is done. 

Disclaimer: See a doctor if you don't get better!

Drink for Cough - Passion Fruit Drink

I had been coughing quite badly since I came back from China in end March, and my girl also coughing badly, so a friend suggested that I made Passion Fruit Drink, which is good for coughing. I'm sharing this recipe that my friend has kindly agreed for me to share on my blog, hopefully it can help others as well. I've added in additional tips of my own, see tips.

Recipe:
*Please vary the recipe accordingly if you're boiling a bigger pot of water with more passion fruits.

Ingredients:
1) 2 Passion Fruits (百香果)
2) Rock Sugar

Preparation:
1) Clean the passion fruits. 
Tip: As you need to put the skin to boil too, some may be concerned of the cleanliness of the skin. Hence, you can wash off the dirt, soak the fruits in water (add some baking soda if you wish) for about 10 minutes. As the fruits tend to float, you may wish to use a plate, invert it to cover and press down the fruits. After soaking for 10 minutes, you may use a knife to scrape the skin a bit.

2) Put the passion fruits into the pot, and cut them into quarters. By doing so, the juice that came out from the fruits when you cut them would be contained in the pot so that not a drop of the juice would be wasted!




3) If the fruit is riper type (more reddish), the pulp and seeds come out from the fruit easily when you cut it. 
Tip: If the fruit is not that ripe, you may scrape the pulp and seeds out from the skins.

4) Fill the pot with water to half mark (half pot of water).

5) Bring the pot of water with the passion fruits skin, pulp and seeds, to boil. After the water is boiled, turn to low fire and continue to boil for 30 minutes (with the lid covered).

6) Add rock sugar according to your taste (or make it sweeter for your young children or not so sweet for elderly folks). Note that the more reddish passion fruit is sweeter, and hence, may not need to add too much sugar; the greener passion fruit is more sour, and hence, may need to add more sugar.

7) The following picture is what you get when the drink is done. Sieve the seeds and serve the drink warm.

Direction:
Drink one cup a day, twice a day preferred. Drink for about 1-3 days depending on your condition. 
*Note: Cup size varies, so you have to judge for yourself. For example, when I make this drink for my 7yo boy who doesn't have cough (he likes the drink!), 2yo girl and myself, I would give myself a bigger portion, and smaller portion for my 2 children, especially for my boy.

If the cough is mild, one may potentially stop coughing after drinking it. If the cough is more serious, it helps to relieve the symptom. Disclaimer: See a doctor if you don't get better!

Making Your Own Pineapple Paste

This post is to share my mum's advice when making your own pineapple paste to make pineapple tarts. 

Choosing pineapples 
Choose slightly green (not too ripe) - it's easier to grind (磨) as too ripe pineapple is too soft to grind. 

Cutting pineapples
When cutting the pineapple, cut into slightly bigger pieces so that it's easier to grind and remember to remove the eyes before starting to grind them.

Cooking pineapples
To have pineapple taste, it's important to cook the paste with the pineapple juice. Mum said those pineapple paste sold outside, the pineapple juice was drained off before cooking the paste so that the paste dries up faster, and hence, shorten the cooking time. Put sugar into the pineapple paste before cooking it. When the paste starts to dry up (juice getting lesser & lesser), add rock sugar (冰糖) so that the paste would look shiny.

Kueh Lapis Recipe

Please note that this recipe is from my mum's recipe book, which she learnt at a Community Centre many years ago, and we have fine tuned it along the way to suit our taste. If you find the recipe similar to yours, it is just pure coincidence, afterall everyone of us learnt from somewhere and it could probably be from the same source.

Ingredients:

20 egg yolks

5 egg whites

550g salted butter (I used SCS butter, ~2 ¼ of 250g block)

300g castor sugar

170g flour

8 tbsp condensed milk

3 tbsp brandy or rum

1 tsp vanilla extract (I used Nielsen Massey pure vanilla extract)

1½ tsp ground mixed spices (I used ½ tsp McCormick Ground Cinnamon, ½ tsp McCormick Ground Nutmeg, ½ tsp vanilla extract)

Steps:
1) Beat egg yolks with sugar until thick creamy. Set it aside for use later.

2) Beat butter for a while, add in the condensed milk and continue to beat till creamy. 

3) Add (2) to (1). Fold in flour and vanilla extract.

4) Add the egg whites in, and mix slowly until all the egg whites are dissolved.

5) Add brandy or rum, and mix well.

6) Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions. Add the mixed spices to one portion and mix well. The other portion is plain.

7) Line a 9" square baking tin with baking paper and grease it. You can use the butter wrapper to grease it. Heat the tin.

8) Scoop ~3-4 tbsp (I used Chinese soup spoon) of the plain or spiced mixture, and use the back of the spoon to smooth out the mixture, reaching all corners of the tin. 

9) Bake the first layer using bottom and top fire. Other layers only top fire or grill.

10) After each layer is baked, remove from oven, 
- use a satay stick or toothpick to remove the air bubbles, 
- use lapis press to press the layer, 
- apply brandy or rum with a cooking brush on the layer (most recipes out there do not have this step, so you may omit this step but it would greatly enhance the fragrance & taste), 
- scoop ~3 tbsp of the mixture (alternating between the plan and spiced mixture) and smooth it out reaching all corners of the tin. 

If you want each layer to look even and nicer, you may wish to weigh each layer, ~125g for first layer and ~100g for subsequent layers, instead of using my estimation method.

Notes:
I'm using a Panasonic Microwave Oven, so these are the baking modes and temperature that I use:
- Preheat oven in conventional bake mode,
- use conventional bake 170 deg cel, ~5 mins for first layer,
- use grill low fire ~3½ mins+- for subsequent layers,
- use grill low fire ~2½ mins for last layer followed by conventional bake 150 deg cel for 1-2mins.
*As the oven gets heated up, the time taken to bake each layer may get shorter. Hence, you may wish to bake with shorter timing and check if the layer is brown enough. If the layer is not brown enough, continue to bake for a while more until you're satisfied with the brownness.