Chai Tow Kway

Chai tow kway (菜頭粿), literally "radish cake" in Hokkien, is a Chinese steamed cake of shredded white daikon radish and rice flour, eaten as a dim sum staple in Cantonese and Teochew cooking and as a hawker favourite across southern China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. The basic cake is unsweetened and almost flavourless on its own: grated daikon is gently cooked down with water, combined with rice flour (sometimes a little cornflour for body) and poured into a shallow tin lined with banana leaf or foil, then steamed for forty minutes to an hour until it sets into a dense, gelatinous slab. Premium cakes are loaded with diced Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, dried shiitake and Jinhua ham stirred into the batter, while everyday versions are kept plain and dressed at the table.

In Singapore and parts of Malaysia, chai tow kway is the local name for the stir-fried variant: the cooled cake is cubed and tossed in a hot wok with beaten egg, garlic, spring onion, preserved radish (chai poh) and either light or dark soy sauce, producing the "white" and "black" versions sold by hawkers in Tiong Bahru, Teck Kee and Old Airport Road markets.