First of all… my blog has turned 1!! Yay *throws confetti* Over the year, I’ve written 120 posts including this one, which is more productive than I’ve expected. Needless to say, it has helped me widen my cooking/baking repertoire and opened doors that I didn’t even think of opening. In less than a week’s time, we’ll find out if this humble blog has gained enough votes to win the Bloggers’ Choice at the Time Out KL Food Awards. Upgraded from a mere spectator last year to a Nominee this year, it’s not a bad achievement. Wish me luck.
I have indeed promised another recipe that a lot of you were curious about. How many of you have seen Purple Carrots? I, for one was blissfully ignorant until my sister posted up her experimental recipe of Purple Carrot Cake. No, not the Sweet Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, but the Chinese Loh Bak Gou (萝卜糕), made with Rice flour and Radish.
Upon further research, I found out that carrots were originally yellow, white, red and purple until the Dutch growers bred an orange variety in the 17th Century – it was said to honour William of Orange. What?! I say bring back the original colours (especially the purple)! Not only they are prettier (which is always important), they also contains higher amount of antioxidants that other purple fruits and vegetables have, such as blueberries and red grapes.
I have to give plenty of credits to my sister for bringing back a pack of these Purple Carrots for both my mother and I. So far I have not seen them locally, so if you come across any, do let me know. My mom did the same thing with the carrots but only gave me a little bit, hmmph! Of course, I had to make more. Are we the first bunch of people who made Purple Carrot Cake then? Probably.
The most important thing for making a good Radish/Carrot cake is the ratio of Rice flour:Water. It’s always 1:2. That way, you’ll get a firm enough texture which cuts and fries well. The reason I’ve chosen to cut the carrots this way was to minimize staining on my chopping board (or grater, for that matter). By the way, you can substitute this with a medium-sized Radish for the traditional Radish cake.
Purple Carrot Cake:
4 Small Purple Carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
50g Minced Pork
2 cloves Garlic, minced
15g Dried Shrimps, dehydrated, finely chopped
1 1/4 Cup of Rice Flour
2 1/2 Cup of Water
Salt and Pepper to taste
Mix the Rice flour and water in a bowl and set aside until needed.
Heat some oil in a big skillet, and fry Garlic, Dried Shrimps, Minced Pork and Carrots together until Carrots are starting to soften. Season with salt and pepper.
Turn the heat off and pour the flour mixture directly into the pan. Add a little more salt and pepper. It should be mildly seasoned so you can have it plain. Stirring continuously until the mixture thickens. If there’s not enough heat to do so, you can restart the heat but keep it low to prevent clumping.
Prepare a cake pan (round or square), steaming equipment. Pour the mixture into the cake pan carefully, and tap the pan on the counter top a few times to knock out the air. Steam for 1 hour or until firm. Cool for an hour before unmolding.
At this point, you can either eat it plain, or pan fry a few slices like I did. It’s easy, just heat a little oil in a pan and fry both sides until golden. Personally this is my favourite way to enjoy it. The crispiness provides a nice mouth feel.
You could also cut it into smaller pieces and make Teochew style Fried Radish Cake aka Chai Tau Kueh (菜头粿). Except well, we know it’s not a Radish cake. Although this dish is generally made with just plain radish cake, the addition of dried shrimps and minced pork won’t hurt either! Here’s a simple recipe from Rasa Malaysia.
Last but not least, you could consider the East Meets West Poached Egg Dish which I blogged about yesterday. The possibilities are endless! Oh, in case you were wondering, they taste just like normal carrots!
So what do you think? Too weird for you, or would you be eager to try?
Thank you all for your support so far, and let’s look forward to a better and yummier year!
Kelly Siew Cooks 
This looks and sounds interesting. 🙂
Indeed! Tastes good though. 🙂
Happy 1st anniversary! 🙂 l love purple foods too……..
Thank you! 🙂 Purple is such a lovely colour on food (and anything really…)
Wow Kelly this looks like a dessert at first glance, but after reading the recipe it sounds quite similar to “turnip cake” that we make at CNY! Good luck for the blogger’s
choice awards contest and happy 1st year! 🙂
Yeah it is indeed supposed to be Turnip cake (loh bak gou), in Malaysia and Singapore we refer to them as Radish cake or Carrot Cake because Radish is called 白萝卜.
Happy 1st Blog-anniversary! I love carrot cake…but never had this purple type. Same with the chai thow koi, my daughter’s favourite…
Thank you! Hopefully I will find purple carrots locally one day!
Happy 1 year anniversary!
Wow, didn’t know that there is a purple carrot. I like the color of that ‘Chai Tau Kueh’ .
Thank you! I love purple food, somehow it’s very enticing to eat!
Happy 1st anniversary! And many more to come!
Love the idea of purple carrot cake. Something new..something different!
Thank you! 🙂
Happy 1st Anniversary… its definately a delicious journey!
Now you make me want to go find Purple carrots…. I love carrot or radish cakes.. but that color is just so gorgeous….
If you can’t find purple carrots maybe you could try beetroots? Could be nice.
I really have never seen or heard of purple carrot before! Only those purple tapioca.. lol! What an interesting way of cooking it! I think I’d love the ones which are pan fried too. 🙂
You’ll be able to find them in your local markets for sure!
Happy 1st anniversary to your blog! My hubster loves carrot cake, maybe I will consider making this for xmas! 🙂
Thank you! Hoping to find purple carrots locally, otherwise have to use Radish. 😛
happy blog-birthday! gosh, based on the confidence and great skill in your blogging, i wouldn’t have guessed it was only one year … you seem like you’ve been doing this for years, really! and my favorite thing is how every recipe you write about really is something unique, educational and completely appetizing, like this one here 😀
Thank you! I’ve actually been blogging since 2004 on a different platform (*cough*Xanga*cough*), but my previous blog was a rojak one in totally different style. I abandoned it for more than a year before I decided to come back and do a food blog. 😛
YAY Kelly! Congratulations on your first birthday! May there be many, many more! 😀
Yay thank you! 🙂
Ah!! I remember seeing purple carrots in opika, did u get yours there ? All these purple vegetables are making the plate more vibrant.. purple potato, purple sweet potato and purple carrot!
Ooh! Opika has them?! I didn’t walk around the whole store the last time I was there *smack forehead* My sister brought these ones over from Australia! Must go to 1U to check! Thanks for the info!
happy birthday to Kelly SIew Cooks!!!
purple carrot? never heard of it…errrr does it taste like carrot? it looks like yam cake, or purple sweet potato cake =.=
Tastes like carrots!
Kelly, got purple carrots kah? I like! I have a thing for purple cakes and purple whatever. Very funky carrot cake. Do the purple carrots taste like the regular orange ones? Oh, and happy first anniversary, many more yummy years to come, eh?
Tastes like orange carrots though more organic (orange ones tend to be more artificial tasting if you will). Thanks for the wishes!
happy anniversary to your blogs ..keep it up and ,,purple carrot i had tryd already ,taste like same with the orange one , FOODie , FOODie me more , more blog kelly
..^__^
Thank you! Mind telling me of it was in Malaysia you’ve tried purple carrots? Yes indeed they taste like normal carrots.
yum! (: I’ve seen purple carrots around but never tried them! hehe Happy blog-anniversary! Keep those awesome posts coming! x
Thank you! Oh I forgot to mention if you cook these carrots in soup your soup will turn freakish purple…… It was a little strange for me to have purple chicken soup last time. Lol.
hahaha Tha’ts quite funny! You must be so shocked when you opened the lid of the pot! hehe But im sure it was still delicious! x