Mooncakes

Mooncake festival is around the corner and it needs no introduction. My Mooncake making is possible due to the fact that i have a very thoughful and generous friend, who is also 'my sifu' in cooking matters. TT, took a trip to Vietnam and bought mooncake moulds from there and graciously send me some of those lovely moulds, of which these lovely mooncakes turned out. Thank you, TT for making it possible. I hope i did not let you down. My mooncake making will not be possible if i did not have this recipe which was shared by Wendy. Wendy, wherever you are, thank you so much for sharing.

Preparation of Golden Syrup:

600 gm granulated sugar

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp lime/lemon juice or citric acid

70 ml (2 ozs) water

Boil the sugar with 1/2 cup of water, lime/lemon juice till golden brown over a slow fire. Then add in 70 ml(2 ozs) water before turning off the fire

Preparation of Pastry Skin:

350 gm - 500 gm all purpose bleached flour

230 gm golden syrup

110 ml oil

1 tbsp potassium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate/kan sui

Mix golden syrup, oil and kan sui together and let it sit for at least 1 hour.

Add in 350 gm flour and mix into a dough. Knead until dough does not stick and is pliable (getting the correct consistency is important - add more flour if the syrup if the dough is too hard and not binding or adjust with more flour if the dough is too runny. )

Rest dough for another 30 minutes before using

Preparation of Lotus Paste:

600 gm lotus seeds with skin and in halves

1 tbsp pottassium carbonate & sodium bicarbonate solution(kan sui)

500 gm sugar

2 cups of peanut oil

60 gm (2 ozs) toasted melon seeds(kua yan)

60 gm (2 ozs) toasted kernel of olive seeds(lam yan)

2 ozs maltose

2 heap dessert spoon wheat starch(tung mein fun) - add this to 1/2 cup of oil from the 3 cups

Boil 600 gm of lotus seeds with 1 tbsp pottassium carbonate & sodium bicarbonate solution(kan sui) for 10 minutes.(Test to see if skins can be removed easily). Cool the lotus seeds and remove the skins and cores.

Using the pressure cooker, steam the lotus seeds for 15 - 20 minutes.

Put the lotus seeds in the food processor and blend till smooth and pour into a large microwable bowl.

Put 1 cup of oil and 150 gm of sugar in a cooking pan and cook till sugar is golden brown. (This must be under a low fire otherwise the sugar will get burnt) When the sugar is golden brown, put in together with the blended lotus seeds and the rest of the sugar. Also add the maltose and another 1/2 cup of oil.

Cook on high for 10 minutes, stir, and continue cooking at 3 - 5 minutes, stir when time is up. Cook until paste is nearly done, then add in the remaining 1/2 cup of oil which has the wheat starch. Continue to cook until done (The lotus paste is ready when it is thick and does not stick when tested).Add in the melon seeds and kernels of olive seeds and let it cool before using.

Preparation of Red bean Paste:

600 gm red beans

700 gm sugar

2 cups peanut oil (1 cup of oil, add in a heaped tbsp of plain flour)

90 gm (3 ozs) plain flour

2 tbsp rose jam/sugar (optional)

Put red beans and enough of water to cover the beans in the pressure cooker, cook uncovered for 5 minutes and then drain.

Put back the drained beans and enough of water in the pressure cooker. Cover and cook on highest pressure for 30 minutes. Remove cover when there is no more pressure.

Take a container and fill 3/4 of it with water. Place some cooked red beans in a sieve and place the sieve at the water surface of the container. Knead and sift the red beans. The food of the red beans will separate from the bean coats/shells and sink to the bottom of the container. Discard the bean coats and continue this process till all the red beans have been mashed and sifted.

Place this watery bean food in a muslin cloth sack or tea cloth and squeese out the water. Continue this process till the water from all bean food has been squeezed out.

Put drained bean food, 1 cup oil, sugar in a large microwable bowl and microwave on high for 10 minutes, stir and continue to cook on high 5 minutes at a time until nearly done. Add in the cup of oil that has the plain flour added in and continue to cook until ready. (time for cooking differs depending on how dry the bean food has been drained)

Add in the rose jam if using.

To assemble the mooncake:

Divide mooncake pastry to 35 -40g (big moulds)and 15g (small mooncake moulds). Knead each portion for a while and roll into a ball .

Divide mooncake paste to 120g (for big mooncake with yolks) and 30g (small mooncake), 140g (big mooncakes without yolks). Knead each portion a little and form each into a ball .

Lightly flour (using cake flour) your hands. Flatten a pastry dough to a 2.5-inch disk/circle. Press to make the edges thinner than the central part and place a ball of paste. Start pushing the paste against the dough . As you push the paste, the dough will start to enlarge. Press the centre of the paste lightly and place an egg yolk there(salted egg yolks should be cooked by addng in a tbsp of wine and steamed). Continue to wrap up the mooncake until the pastry fully cover the filling. Roll into a ball.

Lightly flour the mooncake. Place mooncake, seam side up, in mould. Flatten mooncake to conform to shape of mould . If using a wooden mould, bang upper, lower, left and right sides of mould to dislodge the mooncake. For plastic moulds, just bang slightly the sides of the mould and the mooncake will dislodge with ease.

Place cake on to a lined baking sheet (i use silpat/silicone baking liner). Repeat to shape remaining mooncakes.

Put the mooncakes in the middle of oven and turn on the broiler/grill/upper heat and broil for 5 minutes or until evenly brown. Remove mooncakes from oven and set aside for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and switch setting to oven 375 f convection.

In the meantime, prepare egg glaze.

Beat an egg slightly. Add 1 tsp oil and 1 tbsp water. Strain the egg mixture.

Brush with egg glaze . Stand for further 5 minutes before returning mooncakes to oven.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let is cool in the baking sheet before transfering to baking rack for further cooling.

Store for 2-3 days. Mooncakes will get set and the pastry skin will be shinny and soft and ready for serving.