Make your own Mooncakes
While you may be able to find great tasting mooncakes at very affordable prices these days, there is nothing like having some and trying your hand at making some of your own. Why not make it a family activity that kids can participate in as well. Here is what you would need for a simple
Lotus Paste Mooncake
(Makes 7 ) :
1. Prepare Lotus Seed Paste
Ingredients:
* 500g Lotus seed
* 1/2 tsp alkaline water
* 450g sugar
* 300g ground nut oil
* 1 grated coconut milk extract
a. Soak lotus seeds with boiling water and 1/2 tsp alkaline water for 20 minutes. Remove skin from the seeds, drain and wash in clean water.
b. Boil seeds until soft. Then Blend seeds into a paste.
c. Heat half the amount of oil and sugar in a pan until mixture becomes a golden caramel colour.
d. Put in lotus seed paste and stir. Add remaining oil and sugar
e. When paste has thickened, add coconut milk and continue cooking until paste thickens. When done, the paste should not feel sticky when flattened against palm of your hand.
f. Dish paste out and leave to cool. Divide into 7 equal portions.
2. Prepare Mooncake Dough
Ingredients :
* 300g sugar
* 200g water
* 1 slice lemon
* 300g all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 70g groundnut oil
* 1 egg yolk lightly beaten
a. First, prepare syrup by boiling sugar, water and lemon slice in a saucepan over a slow flame until golden brown. Discard lemon slice and leave to cool.
b. Mix flour with rest of ingredients and knead. Set aside for 5 hours.
c. Divide the dough into 7 equal portions.
3. Take a portion of dough and roll into a thin circular piece.
4. Take a ball of lotus seed paste, place in the middle of dough and wrap around it.
5. Dust mooncake mould with flour and press dough with filling inside, into the mould.
6. Tap on mould to dislodge mooncake and place onto a greased baking tray.
7. For a glossy finish, you may brush mooncakes with egg glaze ( 1 egg yolk, 1/2 tsp water, salt and lightly beaten), after baking for 10 minutes and then return to bake for another 10 minutes.
8 Bake in oven at 220 degrees C for 20-30 minutes.
The Legends behind the Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival, or the Moon Cake Festival is a time where Chinese families get together to eat moon cakes and enjoy the full moon - an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Its also a time where kids can also parade around their neighborhood with their fancy and colorful lanterns.
The moon plays a significant part of this festival. Here are some legendary "moon" stories behind this Festival.
The Mooncake
Nobody actually knows when the custom of eating moon cake to celebrate the Moon Festival began, but one belief traces its origin to the Yuan dynasty - when China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule.
According to one Chinese folk tale, a Han Chinese rebel leader named Liu Fu Tong devised a scheme to arouse the Han Chinese to rise up against the ruling Mongols. He sought permission from Mongolian leaders to give gifts to friends as a symbolic gesture to honor the longevity of the Mongolian emperor. These gifts were round mooncakes. Inside, Liu had his followers place pieces of paper with the date and plan the Han Chinese were to strike out in rebellion -- on the fifteenth night of the eighth month.
Thus, Liu got word to his people, who when they cut open the mooncakes found the message and set out to overthrow the Mongols, thus ending the Yuan dynasty.
The Legend of Chang Er
The legend begins long ago in China, where there lived a beautiful lady named Chang Er. She was the wife of Hou Yi, a skilled archer. The earth was said to have ten suns circling over it then. Each sun will take its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat.
Hou Yi was called upon to save the earth. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the ten suns and, thus, prevented the earth from becoming scorched. For this heroic deed, he was summoned to the fairies' palace. There, he was rewarded with a pill that would grant him immortality.
One day, while Hou Yi was out hunting, Chang Er discovered the pill and swallowed it. As soon as she swallowed it, Chang Er found herself floating and she flew to the moon.
When Chang Er reached the moon, she found a tree under which there was a friendly hare. Because the air on the moon is cold, she began coughing and the Immortality Pill came out of her throat. She thought it would be good to pound the pill into small pieces and scatter them on Earth so that everyone could be immortal. So she ordered the hare to pound the pill, built a palace for herself and remained on the moon.
This helpful hare is referred to in Chinese mythology as the Jade Hare. Because of his and Chang Er legendary importance, you will sometimes see - stamped on every mooncake, every mooncake box, and every Moon Cake Festival poster - images of Chang Er with the Jade Hare.
Many elderly Chinese still believe that the legendary Chang Er and her pet rabbit reside on the moon and if one looks closely, one might just catch a glimpse of them
