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FRIED CARROT CAKE (CHAI TOW KWAY) RECIPE

Name: FRIED CARROT CAKE (CHAI TOW KWAY) RECIPE
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 185 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 300g (2.5 cups) Rice flour; 2 tbsp Tapioca starch (for a slightly chewier texture); 500ml (2 cups) Water, divided (200ml for mixing, 300ml boiling); 300g (10 oz) White radish (daikon), peeled and coarsely grated; 1 tsp Fine sea salt; 1/2 tsp White pepper; 1/2 tsp Sesame oil; 3 tbsp Neutral oil (canola or vegetable), divided; 3 large Eggs, cracked into a bowl and lightly beaten; 3 tbsp Chai poh (preserved salted radish), rinsed and roughly chopped; 3 cloves Garlic, finely minced; 2 stalks Green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish; 1.5 tbsp Fish sauce; 1 tbsp Light soy sauce; 1/2 tsp White sugar; 1/4 tsp White pepper; 2 tbsp Dark soy sauce (thick, sweet dark soy if available); 1 tbsp Light soy sauce; 1 tbsp Oyster sauce; 1 tsp White sugar; 1/4 tsp White pepper; 1 tsp Sesame oil, for finishing; 1 tbsp Crispy shallots, for garnish (optional); Sambal chili sauce For serving alongside

0.0 (0)

Total 3h 5m

Prep 15m

Cook 50m

Chill 2h

Serves 4

Level medium

Fried carrot cake is one of Singapore and Malaysia's most beloved hawker dishes, and the name is immediately confusing to anyone who hasn't encountered it before. There is no carrot in it. There is no cake. Chai tow kway translates from Teochew as radish cake, referring to the steamed block of rice flour and shredded white radish (daikon) that gets cubed and fried on a hot griddle with egg, preserved radish, and dark soy sauce. The name carrot cake stuck in Singaporean English because Hokkien speakers historically called white radish "carrot," and it never got corrected.

What is fried carrot cake exactly?

It's steamed radish cake, called the kway, cut into cubes and fried on a flat iron griddle until the exterior is crispy and golden. Egg gets cracked directly into the pan and scrambled around the cubes until set. Chai poh, which is preserved salted radish, adds a salty, slightly funky depth and a textural contrast. The whole thing is seasoned with fish sauce, soy sauce, and white pepper.

It comes in two versions and both are correct. White version: the kway is fried without dark soy sauce, seasoned with fish sauce only, with the egg scrambled loosely around the cubes. The result is pale, light, and clean-tasting with crispy edges and soft, steamed-rice interior. Black version: dark soy sauce goes in and coats everything in a sweet, slightly sticky, caramelized glaze. Richer, more savory, slightly sweet. Most hawker stalls offer both. Most regulars have a strong opinion about which one is better.

Why does it need the steamed radish cake base and not just fried rice flour?

The kway is the whole texture of the dish. The steamed block has a specific density and moisture content that produces crispy, caramelized exterior surfaces when fried while the interior stays soft, chewy, and slightly gummy. Plain fried rice flour produces a uniform, dense, flat texture with none of the contrast. The two-stage process, steam then fry, is what the dish is built on.

What does fried carrot cake taste like?

Savory, slightly smoky from the griddle, with a crispy-soft texture contrast in every cube, the egg adding richness, the chai poh adding salty umami depth, and the dark soy in the black version layering a caramelized sweetness that makes it deeply addictive. It's a breakfast dish in Singapore hawker centres but it eats like something you'd want at any meal.

Recipe Profile

3 attributes

Category Main Dishes

Origin Singapore

Season All Season

Ingredients

24 Items

Instructions

7 Steps

Make the radish cake batter

Squeeze the grated daikon firmly in a clean cloth or with your hands to remove as much moisture as possible. Reserve the squeezed liquid and set the dry grated radish aside. In a large bowl, whisk the rice flour and tapioca starch together. Add 200ml of cold water and whisk into a smooth, lump-free slurry. Measure the reserved radish liquid and top it up with water to make 300ml total. Bring this liquid to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour the boiling liquid slowly into the rice flour slurry, whisking constantly. The hot liquid partially cooks the starch and the mixture thickens immediately into a paste. Add the squeezed grated radish, salt, white pepper, and sesame oil. Stir until evenly combined.

Steam the radish cake

Grease a square or rectangular baking dish or cake tin (roughly 20 x 20cm or 20 x 25cm) with a thin layer of neutral oil. Pour the batter into the greased dish and smooth the top with a spatula. The batter should be 3 to 4cm deep. Place the dish in a steamer over boiling water. Cover and steam on high heat for 45 to 50 minutes until the cake is fully set and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean with no wet batter clinging to it. Remove from the steamer and cool completely at room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Cold, firm kway cuts cleanly and holds its shape during frying. Warm kway breaks apart in the pan.

Cut the kway into cubes

Once the radish cake is cold and firm, turn it out onto a cutting board. Cut into roughly 2cm cubes. They don't need to be perfectly uniform but consistent sizing means they cook evenly. The cubes will feel dense, smooth, and slightly tacky on the surface. That surface stickiness is what creates the crispy, caramelized crust when they hit the hot oiled pan.

Fry the kway cubes

Heat a wok or wide non-stick skillet over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of neutral oil and let it heat until shimmering and just beginning to smoke. Add the kway cubes in a single layer, pressing each one lightly against the hot pan surface. Leave completely undisturbed for 2 to 3 minutes until the underside is deeply golden and releases naturally from the pan. Turn each cube to expose a new surface and press again. Repeat until at least two to three sides of each cube are golden and crispy. This takes about 6 to 8 minutes total. Don't rush by stirring constantly. The crust forms through sustained contact with the hot surface, not movement.

Add the aromatics and chai poh

Push the crispy kway cubes to the sides of the pan. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the cleared center. Add the minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the rinsed chai poh and stir-fry for 60 seconds until slightly golden and fragrant. The chai poh needs a moment of direct heat to develop its flavor. Raw chai poh straight from the jar tastes sharp and salty. A brief fry in oil rounds it out and adds a faint nuttiness.

Add the egg

For the white version: pour the beaten eggs directly into the pan around the kway cubes. Let the egg set for 20 to 30 seconds around the base of the cubes, then scramble loosely, folding the partially set egg around and between the cubes. The egg should be just set in irregular soft pieces throughout the dish, not uniformly scrambled. For the black version: add the dark soy sauce seasoning mixture now, toss the kway and chai poh until evenly coated and the sauce has caramelized slightly, then pour the eggs in and fold as above.

Season and serve

For white version: add the fish sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, and white pepper. Toss to coat evenly. Taste and adjust fish sauce if needed. For black version: the seasoning went in with the egg step. Taste and adjust dark soy or sugar. Finish both versions with a drizzle of sesame oil and a scatter of sliced green onions and crispy shallots if using. Plate and serve immediately with sambal on the side. Fried carrot cake loses its crispy exterior within 10 minutes of plating as the steam from the interior softens the crust.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving

677.5kcal Calories approx.

protein 53%

26.5g

sodium 100%

2724.1mg

cholesterol 100%

611.3mg

Vitamin D 100%

124.1mcg

Calcium 14%

138.6mg

Iron 27%

4.8mg

Potassium 15%

685.6mg

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

What every cook needs to know about chai tow kway

Why does the radish cake need to be refrigerated before frying?

The steamed kway needs to be cold and fully set before it goes into a hot pan. Warm or room-temperature kway has too much residual moisture and a softer interior structure. In a hot wok, warm kway breaks apart, sticks to the pan, and turns into a soft, mushy mass rather than holding its cube shape long enough to develop a crispy crust. Cold kway from the fridge cuts cleanly, holds its shape, and develops the deep golden crust on the exterior while the interior stays soft and chewy. Overnight refrigeration produces the best results.

What is chai poh and why does it matter?

Chai poh is preserved salted radish, sold in plastic bags or jars at Chinese and Southeast Asian grocery stores. It's one of the defining flavors of the dish alongside the caramelized kway crust. The preservation process concentrates the radish flavor and adds a fermented, slightly funky savory depth that no fresh ingredient replicates. Rinsing it before use removes excess salt while keeping its characteristic flavor. Without chai poh, fried carrot cake tastes noticeably flat and missing something specific that most people can't immediately identify but clearly notice.

White version or black version: what's the actual difference?

White version is seasoned with fish sauce and light soy only. The kway stays golden and the egg is pale. It's cleaner tasting, lets the fried kway flavor and egg come through more clearly, and has a lighter overall character. Black version uses dark soy sauce that caramelizes in the pan and coats everything in a sweet, sticky, slightly smoky glaze. It's richer, more intensely savory, and slightly sweet from the dark soy. Singapore hawker regulars tend to have an unshakeable preference for one or the other. Making both sides of this argument requires tasting both versions, which is the correct approach.

Can you buy the radish cake instead of making it?

Yes. Chinese and Southeast Asian grocery stores often sell pre-made radish cake (lo bak go) in the refrigerated section. It's the same product used for dim sum turnip cake. Buy it, slice it into cubes, and start from the frying step. The texture of store-bought kway varies by brand and some are softer or saltier than homemade, so taste before adding seasoning. Making your own gives you control over texture and salt level and the fresh daikon flavor comes through more clearly.

Why does the egg go in while the kway is still in the pan?

Cooking the egg separately and combining it produces a layered dish where the egg sits alongside the kway rather than integrating through it. Adding the egg directly to the hot pan with the kway cubes lets it fill the gaps between cubes, set against the hot kway surfaces, and become part of the texture of each piece. Every cube ends up partially coated and surrounded by egg rather than the egg being a separate component. It's a more cohesive dish cooked the right way.

Fried carrot cake, called chai tow kway in Teochew, is a Singaporean and Malaysian hawker dish made from steamed rice flour and daikon radish cake cut into cubes and fried on a hot griddle with egg, preserved salted radish (chai poh), garlic, and soy sauce. Despite the name, it contains no carrot and no cake in the Western sense. The name comes from Hokkien speakers historically calling white radish carrot. It comes in two versions: white, seasoned with fish sauce only, and black, coated in dark soy sauce.

The name comes from Hokkien dialect, where white radish (daikon) was historically called carrot. Hainanese and Teochew immigrants who made the dish in Singapore used the Hokkien term for the ingredient, and the English translation became carrot cake rather than radish cake. The name stuck across generations of Singaporean English speakers. In Malaysia the dish is more commonly called chai tow kway, which is closer to the original Teochew name meaning radish cake.

White chai tow kway is fried without dark soy sauce and seasoned with fish sauce and light soy only. It has a lighter, cleaner flavor with the fried kway crust and egg flavor coming through clearly. Black chai tow kway uses dark soy sauce that caramelizes in the pan and coats everything in a sweet, sticky, slightly smoky glaze. It's richer and more intensely savory than the white version. Both versions use the same steamed radish cake base and the same egg and chai poh components.

Yes. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake at 180 degrees C for 45 to 55 minutes until fully set and a skewer comes out clean. The baked kway has a slightly drier exterior than the steamed version but the texture difference is minor in the finished fried dish. Alternatively, microwave the batter in a greased microwave-safe dish on medium power in 3-minute intervals, stirring between each, until fully set. Cool and refrigerate before cutting and frying as normal.

Chai poh is available at Chinese grocery stores, Southeast Asian supermarkets, and most Asian grocery stores in the preserved vegetable section. It's sold in plastic bags or glass jars, sometimes labeled as preserved turnip, preserved radish, or chai poh. Rinse it thoroughly before using to remove excess salt. If unavailable, kimchi radish drained of its liquid is a workable substitute with a different but complementary flavor profile.

Four things produce crispy kway cubes consistently. The radish cake must be cold and fully set from the fridge before cutting, warm kway breaks apart and doesn't crisp. The pan must be very hot before the oil goes in and the oil must be shimmering before the kway touches it. Each cube needs sustained undisturbed contact with the hot pan surface for 2 to 3 minutes per side, not constant stirring. And the pan must not be overcrowded, which drops the temperature and causes the kway to steam rather than fry.

Recipe By

Elena Marchetti

Elena Marchetti is a recipe editor at RoamFeast, developing and editing recipes from around the world for home cooks. She focuses on accurate quantities, clear step-by-step methods and dishes that work in a normal home kitchen, with details checked before publication.