Tag: Carrot Cake

Toddler Eats : Sugarless Carrot Banana Mini Loaves

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I’ve always wanted to bake something that Lochlan can enjoy for morning tea and I came across this recipe that was perfect. No sugar, and just the natural sweetness from the wholesome ingredients of the loaves!

Enjoying the loaf

I have to admit, I was a little nervous before giving the loaf to the little munchkin, cause I wasn’t sure if he would like it. But thankfully he quite enjoyed it and ate half go the loaf! (:

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I was really happy with the texture of the loaves too! It was fluffy and light but still moist! Just the way a good loaf should be. Perfect with a cup of hot tea, or a cup of warm milk (for the bub!) Of course if you had extra time and some cream cheese sitting in your fridge, you could always whip some cream cheese frosting for yourself and indulge! hehe

So here’s the recipe for these deliciousness! Hope you and your kiddos would enjoy it as much as we did!

Sugarless Carrot Banana Mini Loaves (Closely adapted to Easy Toddler Meals)

Ingredients :

1 large carrot, finely grated

2 large bananas (or 3 medium bananas), mashed

1 egg

3 tbs coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1/4 cup greek yogurt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Steps :

1) Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celcius. Spray some coconut oil/ olive oil into the mini loaf tin, to make sure it’s well coated. Set aside.

2) In a large bowl, mix the grated carrot, mashed banana, greek yogurt, coconut oil, egg and vanilla bean paste till well combined.

3) In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients.

4) Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir till well combined. Scoop the mixture into the prepared mini loaf tin and bake for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the loaf.

Loaves all baked and ready!

5) Allow it to cool for 10 mins in the tin, then remove.

Lochlan analysing the loaf

Enjoy it with your kiddos!

Remember to always cook and bake with love! xx

XO Fried Carrot Cake

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I have to admit, when I’m in Singapore, I never really ordered the white version of the fried carrot cake. The black version was always my favourite and is still is! Just something about the sweetness of the dish that draws me in and I am totally addicted to it! But since my last post I did on the chai tow kway, I had half of the steamed carrot cake left and wanted to try something different! So I spoke to my dearest mum and she suggested frying it with some XO sauce and that thought and idea was in my head ever since. So off to the supermarket I went to get some XO sauce.

   But being me, I couldn’t just use only the sauce that came out of the bottle, I had to amp it up! heh A pity I wasn’t brave enough to make it from scratch. But this was, honestly, really good! And all it needs is the addition of a few things : dried scallop, dried shrimps, shallot oil and garlic !

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VIOLA! Super delicious XO sauce! The best thing is, you can make alot of this and just store it in a airtight container and use it for anything – noodles, fried rice and just about anything! When I used this for the fried carrot cake, it was really good. I actually liked it better than my black one (and that’s a big call for me! haha). The XO sauce definitely added a punch to the kinda ordinary carrot cake, and I could just keep eating it all day! NOMS!

So do give this a try cause I’m very sure you will love it! (:

Amped Up XO Sauce

2 tsp shallot oil

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

25g dried scallop, soaked and drained, reserving water

25g dried shrimp, soaked and drained, reserving water

4 heap tbs of XO sauce, from the bottle

Steps :

1) Finely chop the dried shrimp and set aside. Pour the water that was reserved from soaking both the dried scallops and shrimp in a measuring cup, and top it up to the 1 cup mark.

2) In a small saucepan, heat the shallot oil on medium heat and add the garlic, dried shrimp and scallop and fry till fragrant and the garlic is slightly golden. Add the XO sauce and water and bring it to a boil before turning the heat down to low, and allow the sauce to simmer until it reduces and thickens. This will take about 30-45 minutes. Do not rush this process, in case you burn the bottom. Stir it every now and then.

3) Once it has thickened, put it aside to let it cool down. Store in an airtight container and would be able to keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.

XO Fried Carrot Cake (a foodmadewithlove original, serves 2)

1/2 of the steamed carrot cake (refer to my other post)

3-4 tbs chye poh (preserved turnip)

1 tbs chopped dried shrimp

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp sambal chilli (more if you like it spicy)

2 tbs amped up XO sauce (recipe above)

1 tsp fish sauce

white pepper, to season

3 stalks of spring onion, slice finely for garnish

3 tbs shallot oil

Steps :

1) Cut the steamed carrot cake to small pieces. Again, I do prefer it a little smaller, so that it will crisp up more. In a non-stick pan, add the shallot oil and fry the carrot cake till golden brown and crispy. Have the heat on medium-high.

2) Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic, dried shrimp and chye poh and fry till fragrant. Add more oil if needed.

3) Add the fish sauce, XO sauce, pepper and sambal. Fry till the carrot cake is well coated.

4) Pour the beaten eggs onto the carrot cake and allow it to set slightly before flipping over. Using the spatula, cut up the pieces into smaller chunks. Add the spring onion just before serving. Top with more XO sauce if desired!

ENJOY!

Fried Carrot Cake (Chai Tow Kway)

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Fried carrot cake has always been my favourite breakfast back in Singapore since I was little! My parents would come across what they feel is the best one and either bring me there or buy me a packet to try! Because I use to live in the West, my favourite stall is at Bukit Timah Market and now that I live in the North, my favourite is no doubt the stall from Serangoon Gardens Market! (: In fact, I have a plate of fried carrot cake almost every Sunday after church! If you don’t know, fried carrot cake comes in black and white. My favourite is the black one. The blacker the better!

This is the one from Serangoon Gardens Market. It’s really amazing. Every single bite has got a balance of carrot cake, egg, chye poh, and sweet black sauce! Not too dry and just a tad moist the way I really like! And what’s more? It’s cheap! $2.50 and I will be happily stuffed! hehe

So it’s been on my agenda for almost a year to try and make from scratch, but just never got around to doing it. So since it’s the holidays, I decided to get down to getting it done! Truthfully, I was quite nervous, cause making kueh (of any kind) is not really my forte. That’s probably why it took me over a year to pluck up my courage to make it! But I’m so glad I did! This recipe from Bee @ Rasa Malaysia is delicious! The texture of the kueh is not too soft, so it’s really easy to fry without being all clumped up together!

It does take a little bit of time to get it done, and you have to wait overnight for the carrot cake to cool and chill in the fridge so that it’s much easier to handle and simpler to cut it into smaller pieces. So I recommend that you make the carrot cake a day in advance! It was perfect for me, cause I made it on a Saturday and fried it on Sunday so it just felt like being home and having a plate of delicious fried carrot cake at the markets. (:

 So do you have a favourite hawker food like I do?

Fried Carrot Cake (Adapted from Rasa Malaysia)

For the Carrot Cake

2 medium radish (about 800g), grated finely

50ml water

200g rice flour

250ml water

1/4 tsp salt

Steps :

1) Over a very low flame, steam the grated radish and 50ml of water for about 30 minutes or until the radish turns translucent. Set aside and allow it to cool.

2) Mix the rice flour, water and salt until well combined, making sure there is no lumps.

3) Add the rice flour solution to the cooled grated radish. Stir and mix it well, then pour into a round metal cake tin. The mixture will look like a watery coleslaw. Steam the mixture for 45 minutes on high heat.

4) Leave the carrot cake to cool (best to leave it overnight in the fridge) so that it would firm up and would not stick to the knife when you’re cutting into it.

Fried (black) Carrot Cake (Serves 2)

Half of the steamed carrot cake

3 tbs shallot oil

3-4 tbs chye poh (preserved turnip)

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

 1/2 tsp sambal chilli

2 tsp fish sauce (can add more if needed)

2 tbs thick sweet black sauce

white pepper, to season

2 stalk spring onion, sliced finely

Steps :

1) Cut the steamed carrot cake to small pieces. I do prefer it a little smaller, so that it will crisp up more. In a non-stick pan, add the shallot oil and fry the carrot cake till golden brown and crispy. Have the heat on medium-high.

2) Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic and chye poh and fry till fragrant. Add more oil if needed.

3) Add the fish sauce, pepper and sambal. Fry till the carrot cake is well coated.

4) Pour the beaten eggs onto the carrot cake and allow it to set slightly before flipping over. Using the spatula, cut up the pieces and add the thickened sweet black sauce. Fry and mix it well. Add the spring onions and dish up into a bowl.

ENJOY! (:

Mine turned out a little drier than I hope, but was still really delicious! If you love fried carrot cake like I do, do give this a shot! (: If you prefer the white version, just omit the last step! So make the carrot cake today so that you can fry it tmr!