by Andrew Cai

Created on: February 21, 2011   Last Updated: December 04, 2011

Contrary to its name, Chinese carrot cake does not have any carrots and it is not even a cake. The "carrot" in this recipe is actually white radish. The “cake” may come from the image that it resembles a cake.  It is a salty and spicy dish rather than a sweet one and you can usually find this in most Chinese restaurants.  Personally, the author enjoys the flavor of this dish and believes that the ideal Chinese carrot cake should be moist, soft and served with some type of sauce.

Supplies needed

1 wok

1 10" tin

1 measuring cup and teaspoon

1 mixing bowl

Ingredients:

2/10 tsp white radish (shredded finely)
1 1/3 cups of yam bean (shredded finely)
1 1/2 cups of  rice flour
9 tsp corn flour
3 1/3 cup water
8 2/5 tsp Chinese dried mushroom  (soak mushrooms for 15 minutes, remove the stems, and slice finely)
12 1/2 tsp dried prawns (chop roughly)
2/5 cup Chinese sausage (diced)
1/4 cup lean pork (boil and dice beforehand)
6 tsp vegetable oil

For Garnishing:
4 shallots (sliced and fried until golden brown)
1 sprig coriander leaf (finely chopped)
2 chilies (finely chopped)

Directions:

1) Heat 2 Tbsp oil in wok until hot. Fry mushroom, dried prawns, sausage and pork for about 6 minutes until the mixture becomes fragrant. Add salt for taste, remove and set aside.

2) Now add the shredded radish and yam bean into a wok and fry, stirring continuously until dry.

3) Add the mixture from step one (1) to the radish and yam bean mixture. Mix well and set aside.

4) In a large mixing bowl, mix rice flour and corn flour. Gradually add water to the mixture and stir well until you form a paste.

5) Add the combined mixture from step three (3) to the paste.

6) Oil the round 10" tin. Pour the mixture into the tin and steam for 1 hour. Test with a skewer.  When the mixture is ready, the skewer should come out cleanly.

7) Immediately sprinkle the crispy shallots, chopped chilies and coriander leaves on top of the cake while it is still hot to allow the garnishing to stick to the cake.

8) Allow the cake to cool slightly before cutting into slices or cubes.

Serve warm with either a chili sauce or a sweet sauce. The leftovers can be wrapped and refrigerated. For leftovers, cut out serving portions as required and steam before eating.

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