THREE BIRDS WITH ONE STONE.
February 14, 2010

When it comes to food, I'm usually on the receiving end as opposed to the giving end. Not that I don't appreciate good food, but I'm a terrible cook. I can barely fry an egg and given the chance, could probably burn a pot of water. Unfortunately this is rather counter productive because I also love food, and normally relate my experiences of each city I travel to by the food I eat there. When I think of Paris, I think of crepes, croque monsieurs, coffee, and cold meats. When I think of Tokyo, I think of tamago, assorted izakaya food, hamburg steak and draft beer. You get the idea. One of my fondest epicurean memories of living in Singapore ('86 - '94) was Char Kway, or the Singaporean dark pan fried carrot/turnip cake, a hawker dish that is rather unique and strangely, unlike Laksa or the like, isn't really offered elsewhere in the world despite the popularity of Singaporean cuisine. This memory was triggered as I read through my twitter feed last week, with friends in Singapore and London discussing pan fried turnip cake (albeit the Taiwanese white version). The normal fried white carrot cake is also a common dish during Chinese New Year festivities, which, as I'm sure half of the world's population knows, fell on the same day as the dreaded Valentine's day this year.

The challenge. How to tackle:

1) Chinese New Year.
2) Valentine's Day.
3) My over compulsive obsession with fried turnip cake.

The solution:

I decided to put my rather lousy cooking skills to the test by trying to replicate one of my favourite childhood dishes - Char Kway. It seemed relatively simple, so I figured I couldn't screw it up (that bad).

Three birds with one stone -

1) Contribute to a Chinese New Year meal
2) Cook a once-in-a-blue-moon meal for Ivy
3) Satisfy my obsessive desire for this dish.

I'm not sure what to call this in English - it says preserved cabbage on the side of the packaging. "Chai Po" in Hokkien. Essential.

Mental note #1: Check expiry dates on all food purchased at asian-specific supermarkets. I'm just sayin.

Heat your pan up with a good helping of cooking oil. Make sure the pan is pretty hot, so you can sear the sides of the turnip cake - I unfortunately do not have a gas cooker, so I left the electric element on for a while. Smoked out the kitchen. Sorry. Fry 1/2 tbsp of garlic, 1 tbsp of Chai Po. I left it frying a bit longer because I like the crispy burnt pieces.... and I forgot.

Mental note #2: Taking photos whilst cooking simultaneously is not as easy as it seems.

Throw in carrot cake chunks. Pan fry leaving it to fry on each side slowly to create golden brown, thin crispy layer.

5 tbsps of ABC Kecap Manis - sweet dark soy sauce, and 2 eggs. Lightly beat the eggs with 1/4 tbsp salt, and 1/2 tbsp pepper.

Mental note #3: make sure it's salt, not sugar before you add it to eggs.

Make sure the pan is still hot. Mix and fold sauce into fried carrot cake cubes. Then stir in egg. Add sambal to taste.

Mental note #4: Do not drop sambal on white shirt.

Serve whilst hot. Garnish with chopped spring onions if you have any.

Mental note #5: Get some spring onions.

Et voila. Bon Apetit, Happy Chinese New Year, and Happy Valentine's Day, all in one convenient dish.

Gastro-romance. Love is best served on a plate.