Variations
The versions served by hawkers in Johor and Singapore, where Teochews live, are typically prepared by frying the daikon cake with chopped preserved turnip, diced garlic, eggs, and Chinese fish sauce in place of soya sauce. Chopped spring onion is added just before serving. As you go northwards (e.g. in Kuala Lumpur), the same dish is darker due to the use of dark soya sauce, and bean sprouts are added. The "black version" mentioned below is not "chai tow kway", but "char kway" and uses rice cake fried with garlic (usually no preserved daikon), bean sprouts, eggs and thick sweet dark sauce.
In Singapore, however, it is more commonly cut into pieces and stir fried with eggs, garlic, spring onion and occasionally dried shrimp. There are two variants: the "white" version does not use sweet soy sauce, and the carrot cake is fried on top of a beaten egg to form a crust; the "black" version uses sweet sauce (molasses) and the egg is simply mixed in with the carrot cake.
Cultural importance
The dish has many fans, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia, where it is enjoyed by people of different dialect groups and races, and not just the Teochews, and is served in a range of establishments ranging from the simplest hawkers to the most expensive Chinese restaurants. It is a much-loved local comfort food in the region, and can be consumed at various times of the day; it goes from being a breakfast dish, to a side dish, to a late-night supper dish. Many public figures are also known to have a fondness for the dish. Notably, the Singapore politician Chan Chun Sing has indicated his love for the dish in one of his speeches, indicating a preference of a particular variant of the dish (specifically the "S$10 XO Sauce chye tow kuay"), as opposed to the one commonly found in hawker centres and coffee shops, thus illustrating the many variations of the dish available in the region. (wikipedia)
- Song Zhou Luo Bo Gao - 208B New Upper Changi Road #01-37
- Guan Kee Black Carrot Cake - Albert Food Centre, #01-59
- Lau Goh Teochew Fried Carrot Cake - Zion Riverside Food Centre #01-26
- Fu Ming Cooked Food - Redhill Food Centre #01-49 #01-49
- Yuan Cheng Carrot Cake - Telok Blangah Drive Food Centre #01-33
- Hai Sheng Carrot Cake - Ang Mo Kio 724 Food Centre #01-09
- Carrot Cake 菜头粿 - Chomp Chomp Food Centre #01-36
- Ang Mo Kio 409 Fried Carrot Cake - Chomp Chomp Food Centre #01-24
- Chey Sua Carrot Cake - Toa Payoh West Food Centre Lor 1 #02-30
- He Zhong Carrot Cake - Bukit Timah Food Centre #02-185
- Hock Soon Carrot Cake 福顺菜头粿 - Ghim Moh Food Centre #01-29
- Ghim Moh Carrot Cake - Ghim Moh Food Centre #01-16
- Ghim Moh Carrot Cake - ABC Brickworks Food Centre #01-140
- Heng 興 - Newton Food Centre #01-28
- Fried Carrot Cake - Clementi 448 Food Centre #01-45
- Tiong Bahru Kampung Carrot Cake - Tiong Bahru Market #02-53
- Bukit Merah View Carrot Cake 红山景菜头粿 - Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre #01-37