Tuesday 2 February 2016

[Recipe] Steamed Carrot Cake With Seafood XO Sauce - 海皇XO酱蒸萝卜糕

Carrot Cake (萝卜糕) aka radish cake or chai tow kway is a popular dish eaten during Chinese New Year to symbolize "good fortune (好彩头)". Although there are a few different methods in making this traditional dish but generally shredded white radish is being mixed with the rice flour batter together with ingredients like dried shrimps, mushroom and Chinese sausage.

Despite being a new year dish, carrot cake is also one of the common dim sum items which often served in steamed or pan-fried version. Besides those you can also find another local version known as Fried Carrot Cake (菜头粿) which is stir-fried with eggs and preserved radish.



STEAMED CARROT CAKE WITH SEAFOOD XO SAUCE
(海皇XO酱蒸萝卜糕)



For this carrot cake recipe I used Seafood XO Sauce which is made with dried seafood like scallops, dried fish and shrimp that are being cooked with chili peppers, onions and garlic. As a seasoning it helps to enhance the flavour of the white radish and make this traditional food one of the perfect items to be served during Chinese New Year.

The texture of the carrot depends on the amount of water used with a common ratio of 1:3 in terms of rice flour to water. Here I am using 1350ml of water instead of 1500ml to achieve a slightly firm texture for easy slicing so that I can use it for pan-fried or fried carrot cake.


(Yield: 8" square tin | Preparation: 15 minutes | Cooking: 45 minutes)

Ingredients:
450g white radish (白萝卜), shredded
3 tablespoons Lee Kum Kee Seafood XO Sauce (海皇XO酱)
2 Chinese sausage (腊肠), diced
1 tablespoons cooking oil

Flour Batter:
500g rice flour (粘米粉)
2 tablespoons tapioca flour (茨粉/木薯粉)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1350ml water

Garnishing:
Chopped spring onion and coriander
extra Seafood XO Sauce

Method:
1. Using a hand whisk mix all the dry batter ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Next slowly stir in water and mix until it form a smooth pouring batter. Set aside.

2. Preheat frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil and saute Chinese sausage on low heat till fragrant, remove and set aside.

3. Using the remaining oil in the pan, stir-fry shredded radish (squeeze out excess water) over medium heat until fragrant. Add in Seafood XO Sauce and stir until well-mixed.

4. Next add in batter and keep stirring until thicken. Remove from heat and transfer the mixture into a greased 8" square tin and level the surface. (I made it into 4 small disposal foil tin (14cm x 10cm) as gift)

5. Lastly steam in preheated steamer over medium heat for 45 minutes or until cooked.

6. Remove from heat and leave it to cool on wire rack before slicing and serve with garnishing.

海皇XO酱蒸萝卜糕 - Steamed Carrot Cake with Seafood XO Sauce
萝卜糕是港式茶楼常见的点心之一,不管是清蒸、香煎还是加上XO酱拌炒大家都喜爱。萝卜糕的制作方式一般都是以白萝卜切丝然后混入粘米粉和茨制成的粉浆。最后再依各人喜好加些切碎的冬菇、虾米、腊肠或腊肉蒸煮即可。而这个海皇XO酱蒸萝卜糕我加入了海鲜XO酱来调味让简单的糕点不再平凡。

(分量: 8"烘盘   |   准备: 10分钟    |  烹饪时间: 45分钟)

材料:
450克白萝,切丝
3汤匙李锦记海皇XO酱
2条腊肠,切丁
1汤匙食油
葱花和香菜
额外的海皇XO酱

粉浆:
500克粘米粉
2汤匙木薯粉/茨粉
1/2茶匙胡椒粉
1/2茶匙五香粉
1/2茶匙盐
1/2茶匙糖
1350毫升水

做法:
1. 将所有粉浆的材料(除了水)倒进一个大碗里然后拌匀。接着边倒入水边搅拌直到成光滑的面糊。放一旁备用。

2. 预热平底锅,用1汤匙油把香肠爆香然后捞起待用。

3. 用剩余的油将萝卜丝(挤掉多余的水分)以中火炒香30秒再加入海皇XO酱翻炒均匀。

4. 接着倒入粉浆并且不断的搅拌用中下火煮到浓稠状之后就可转移到涂抹油的烘盘。(我分别倒入四个 14厘米 x 10厘米的小盘

5. 最后用中火蒸45分钟至熟透。

6. 取出后把盘放在冷却架上降温后就可切块享用。



FRIED CARROT CAKE
(菜头粿)

In Singapore Fried Carrot Cake (菜头粿) is a tasty hawker food which comes in two versions; white (plain) and black (sweeten with dark sweet soy sauce) both are being stir-fry together with eggs, minced garlic and preserved turnip (chai poh - 菜脯). Personally I prefer the "black version" which is slightly sweet and savoury.

(Yield: 2 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 7 minutes)

Ingredients:
350g steamed carrot cake (萝卜糕), cut into cubes or chunks
3 beaten eggs
1 tablespoon preserved sweet turnip (菜脯)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon XO sauce; or
1 teaspoon sambal chilli
Dark sweet soy sauce, optional
Some chopped spring onion

Method:
1. Rinse preserved turnip twice, drained well and set aside.

2. Preheat frying pan with 2 tablespoons of oil and saute diced carrot cake for 5 minutes or until softened and lightly browned on all sides.

3. Next push the carrot cake to one side of the pan, add in another tablespoon of oil and saute minced garlic and preserved turnip and XO sauce (or sambal chilli) until fragrant.

4. Combine carrot cake together with the turnip mixture and splash of water to cook for another minute. (you can add 1-2 tablespoons of dark sweet soy sauce at this stage if preferred)

5. lastly swirl beaten egg over the carrot cake and let it set till almost cooked before diving the carrot cake omelette into quarters for easy flipping.

6. Cook both sides until golden browned then remove to serving plates and top with some chopped spring onion or extra XO sauce and serve.

Lastly hope you will like this version of carrot cake and able to squeeze some time out of your busy schedule to try it during coming new year. But on a side note, homemade version will be slighter dry compared to those store bought due to the amount of oil used to prepare this dish so by all means you can adjust the amount of oil to your preference. As for another version using yam (taro) known as  Steamed Yam Cake (芋头糕). You can refer to our recipes on another post here.

2 comments:

  1. The cubed item in your 2nd picture showing the shredded radish --- are they also radish too? Any reason for having it cubed instead of shredding like the rest?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there, yup the cubes on the photo are some leftover radish after shredding. I just wanted to add it in for extra bites so it's up to individual option :)

      Delete

Dear All,

Thanks for leaving down your comments. I do value each and every of your suggestion(s) or comment(s) so if you are signing off as Anonymous, please kindly leave your Name so that I could address you. Thanks

Lastly, please DO NOT SPAM as Spam comments will be deleted immediately.

Regards
Ellena (Cuisine Paradise)

ShareThis