Mid-Autumn festival & Mooncake (Bánh trung thu)
They say you don't know what you have until it is gone. This may sound a bit dramatic for a post about food, but it is one of the reasons why I started this blog. It took me going half way across the world to appreciate the little things I had at home, like the sound of summer rain in Hanoi, or the scent of dita bark flower in the fall (hoa sữa). In the fall, it is Mid-Autumn festival, an ancient festival that revolves around children.
Every year, on August 15th in Lunar calendar (hence the name Mid-Autumn), the moon is believed to be at its fullest and brightest. This festival dates back as far as 15,000 years ago in Southeast Asia, revolving around children. It is said that originally, parents celebrated the festival to compensate for the time away from their children during the harvest season (in August of Lunar calendar). In Vietnam, us kids (back when I was one) would dress up to be different comic characters, hold decorative lanterns, and join other kids in the neighborhood to head to a parade nearby. At the parade, there would be a lot of candies, dragon dance, and lantern dance. It is basically the equivalent of Halloween in Southeast Asia.
During Mid-Autumn festival, it is customary to gift moon cakes to your family and loved ones. Moon cakes are delicate and rich-tasting that come with various types of filling, from sweet red bean paste, lotus seed paste, to mixed nuts and sweet sausage. The dough itself can be baked or steamed (similar texture to the skin of Japanese mochi).
When I was in Vietnam, our family received so many moon cakes from friends and families that I did not appreciate them. Having been away for more than 5 years now, I decided to recreate a piece of my childhood memories by attempting to make moon cakes. I really mean it by attempting! It took me 3 times to get it right, but now I know for sure the recipe works, and I am very excited to share it with you.
Baked Moon Cake Recipe (Bánh nướng)
INGREDIENTS
The Dough:
Vegetable Oil: 30 ml
Golden Syrup: 160 ml. Note: this is the major difference in my 3rd attempt versus the first two. So I would highly recommend using Lyle golden syrup, at least for your first try.
Egg yolk: 1 ct
All purpose flower: 240 gr
Cake flour: 50-60 gr
Filling (lotus seed version):
Cooked lotus seeds: 2 can
Granulated sugar: 200 gr (depending on how sweet you want)
Rice flour: 40 gr
Vegetable oil: 15 ml
Salted duck egg yolk: 10 counts
Egg wash:
Egg: 1 count
Food coloring: 1 red drop, 3 yellow drops
Milk: 3 tbps
Tool:
Mooncake molds (I got mine from Amazon)
RECIPE
*THE DOUGH:
Mix the vegetable oil, egg yolk, and golden syrup in a mixing bowl. Then add 240 gr of all purpose flour to the bowl. Mix well.
Transfer the dough to a working surface with a thin layer of cake flour on the surface. Slowly add the cake flour and knead the dough until it is only slightly sticky but still moist and soft.
Wrap the dough in cling wrap; let it rest in room temperature for an hour.
*THE FILLING
Add the lotus seeds and 3/4 of a can of water into the blender. Blend well until the there is no crumbs of lotus seeds.
Transfer the liquid to a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the oil and sugar (add as much as you desire). Continue mixing until the paste thickens a little. Then add the rice flour to help the paste thicken further until you get a consistency as below.
This method works the same way for mung beans, or black sesame. You just need to make sure they are cooked. For mung beans, you can boil them in water. For black sesame, roast it on a baking pan or cook it on a pan over medium heat with constant stirring for 5-8 mins until you can smell the black sesame. Then proceed as above.
The amount of sugar and rice flour can vary depending on your taste and the consistency of the paste. Adjust if needed.
*THE KNEADING AND MOLDING
The ratio of dough to filling is 2:3. With the ingredients above, I made about ten 40-gram dough balls, and ten 60-70 grams filling balls.
To knead the filling balls, make sure the lotus paste and 1 egg yolk together weight about 60 grams. Knead the lotus paste into a ball, then push the egg yolk in the middle and slow knead to cover the egg yolk. Knead slightly to form a ball. Continue to do so until you finish all the ingredients. Separately, knead the dough into 40-gram balls.
On a working surface with rice flour, use a rolling pin (covered in rice flour) to roll one dough to where the diameter of the dough is double that of the filling ball. Cover the filling with the dough, slowly knead the dough around the filling, and make sure to push the air out as you knead the dough. Knead until the dough fully covers the filling. Cover this dough with another layer of rice flour.
Then either use a brush or spray oil into the mold to avoid sticking. Put the dough on a baking tray with parchment paper, then put the mold over the dough, push down and hold for 10 second. Then remove the mold, the moon cake should not stick to the mold and stay on the baking tray.
Continue to do so until you have finish all the dough and fillings.
*EGG WASH
Mix egg, milk, and food coloring together.
*THE BAKING
Bake the moon cakes in preheated oven at 375 F or 180 C for 5 minutes.
Take the tray out, spray water over the cakes and let them cool down for 5 mins.
Use a soft brush to slightly brush 2 layers of egg wash over the cake. Make sure to leave no bubble on the cakes' surface.
Bake the cakes again for another 7 minutes. Repeat this step 2 more times.
*PRESERVE MOON CAKES:
Once the cakes are baked, and cooled down, wrap each cake in a tight quart size bag to avoid air in that soften the cake. Refrigerate the cakes and you can enjoy them for up to 2 weeks.
Let me know how the recipe turns out for you! xo