Carrot cake or Chai Tow Kway

You know you've been living overseas for too long when you start learning to concoct hawker fare you'd never dream of making when you're in your home country. This was my attempt at making carrot cake, as what us Singaporeans would call it, though the dish has nothing to do with carrots nor cake. It's probably more correct to call it by its hokkien name: Chai Tow Kway.

Equipment:

1. A 2-quart saucepan, preferably non-stick
2. A spatula for stirring
3. A deep casserole dish
   

Ingredients:

1. rice flour - 1 cup
2. wheat flour - 1 cup
3. dried shrimp - a handful
4. water - 3 cups
5. five spice powder - a dash
6. black pepper - a dash
7. salt - a pinch
8. spring onion - a sprig, for garnish
9. dark soy sauce - a tablespoon
10. minced garlic - a tablespoon
11. EVOO - a tablespoon
12. eggs - 2 to 4 (I like it eggy, so I use 4)
    

Method:
First, throw in ingredients 1-7 into your saucepan and stir till dissolve. Then crank up the heat and it'll start coagulating. When you get a nice semi-solid mass, pour out into your casserole dish and steam for 30 min. (Optional: if you're lazy like me, cover with a wet kitchen towel and microwave on high for about 8 minutes or till the cake sets. This is much faster and I don't taste any difference in the result.) Once the cake sets, stir fry it with garlic and some oil (I imagine if you use pork lard or some bacon drippings it'll be better, but warning: extremely unhealthy!) and beat an egg or two into it when you're almost done. Include an optional tablespoon of dark soy sauce if you like the black type. The one shown here is with dark soy sauce.

The result: Carrot cake that tastes almost like home!