Cakes From The Moon!!!

Yes! It's that time of the month again each year according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, the 8th Moon and 15 days of the Mooncake Festival! For 2008, this special date falls on 14, September, 2008 around Autumn Equinox or Mid-Autumn festival. This is the only time of the year I can taste lots of mooncakes that no longer made in rounds but in squares and other beautiful shapes with assorted flavours too. Besides the traditional flavours there are also Toffee, Black Sesame, Coconut, Mango, Dragon Fruit (Pithaya), Black Forest. Raspberry, Cheese, Lavender to Tiramisu! Goshhh, and the beautiful boxes that you have to put in those mooncakes as gifts to friends and families. For me, I like to collect the boxes or containers of this mooncakes as well. What I did with the tins and boxes? I kept my precious tea leaves like Pu Erh, Oolong, Gyokuro, Sencha and my teacups. Here's a little samples of the 2008 Mooncake collection available in my country and you can find more information about this festival celebrated by Asian Chinese wherever they are. These are baked mooncakes. I hope to post other types of mooncakes which made from Agar-Agar and Mochi, etc with mango, chocolate, litchee, yogurt fillings!

The boxes that came with the mooncakes.

This is Osmanthus Mooncake. Next to it is one of my Yixing Zhu Ni teapots, it's a special commemorative piece (I forgot what's the translation of the carvings of Calligraphy on its surface.) The size is for 2 people and as big as my clenched fist... I love having Green Tea and Oolongs in Red Clay teapots.

Side view of the mooncakes with ridges... behind the mooncake are 2 of my antique handmade and handpainted tea cups collection.

Inside of the Osmanthus Mooncake with single egg yolk (Salted Duck Egg), peeled melon seeds and osmanthus flowers mixed with Lotus Seed paste. The little streaks/dots are the flowers.

This one is Chestnut With Jingsa...

The brownish part is Chestnut puree/paste with melon seeds. The centre is mashed egg yolk from Salted Duck Egg. This mashed method is called 'Jingsa'.

There are many choices of mooncakes available until I got confused! You can read the following links here and here - you will see what I meant :-D Oh, also the colorful lanterns made of papers or plastic. I also like the Mooncake Moulds used. The intricate patterns of the moulds were carved out from a block of wood that made each mould an art itself! I'm going to get some and frame it up! Antique Mooncake Mould are expensive due to it's handmade process. Nowadays, I'm not sure if it's hand carved or machine carved but there are many choice of moulds available. You can even find plastic moulds, great for Mooncake Jellies and comes in shapes of Hello Kitty, Mickey Mouse and Winnie The Pooh! Surprisingly, Malaysia has been noted as largest variety of mooncakes supplier. For this year, this company is my favourite!

Boiled Osmanthus With Gingko Nuts, Lotus Seeds & Foo Chuk In Milk

Boiled Osmanthus With Gingko Nuts, Lotus Seeds & Foo Chuk In Milk

1 pkt Fresh Gingko Nuts (100 g @)

1 pk Fresh Lotus Seeds (100 g @)

300 ml Fresh Milk

1-2 tsps Preserved Osmanthus Paste (Gui Hua Tang)

2 pcs Fresh Foo Chuk (Fresh Soya Milk Skins)

1-2 tsps Dried Osmanthus Flowers

Some Sugar (to boil Gingko Nuts)

1. In a small pot, put in the Gingko nuts and cover with some water (just enough to cook the nuts) When nuts cooked enough to your liking, add in some sugar to taste. Remove the nuts from the pot and set aside.

2. In a clean pot, pour in the fresh milk. Add in the fresh Lotus Seeds. Let the milk boils and add in the sweetened Gingko Nuts. 

3. Let the milk boils again for 1-2 minutes. Add in the preserved Osmanthus paste. Stir until the paste dissolves. If using the preserved Osmanthus paste, you don't need to add in any sugar. The paste is sweet enough to sweetened this dessert. 

4. Add in the fresh foo chuk. Reduce the heat and simmered until mixture reduced slightly.

5. When the Lotus Seeds are cooked, add in 1 tsp of Dried Osmanthus. Stir the mixture. 

6. Turn off the heat and let it steep for awhile wild the dried Osmanthus infused with the milk.

7. Serve in individual bowls either hot or cold and sprinkle with some Osmanthus on top.

Reasons why I used 2 types of Osmanthus because the Osmanthus Fragrans in the preserved paste was actually a white variety and larger petals. Due to the preservation state with sugar, the paste looked dull but still with Osmanthus scent. So, for the color contrast to this dessert I also used the orange-flower variety; Osmanthus Fragrans Aurantiacus which can be use as well if you can't find the preserved Osmanthus paste.

Note: If you feel that the lotus seeds is too bland you may pre-cook it with some sugar earlier. Beware that fresh Lotus Seeds cook faster than dried seeds. If you're using Dried Lotus Seeds, please pre-soak the seeds with warm water until soften ( I leave it to soak for 24 hours) and then boil it until tender. You can decide later if you want to add sugar for sweetness if using in desserts. If you're using it for savoury dishes, you don't need to add anything prior to cooking because the Lotus Seeds will absorb the sauce/gravy after the dish cooked.

If you can't find fresh foo chuk which is made from soya bean milk skins rolled up in small bundles you can use the dried version which you have to soak until soften and cut to smaller bite sizes pieces before cooking.

Nowadays, you can find ready cleaned & skinned Gingko nuts & Lotus seeds in small packets of 100 g. If you can only find Gingko nuts still in their shells, you have to crack the shells open and check for any spoilt nuts. Pour some hot boiling water over them and let it soak for few minutes or until the brown skins are loose. Drain, rinse under cold water and rub between kitchen towels to remove the skins off.

Variations: You can also add in some Lily Bulb petals, yam, sweet potatoes or chopped Waterchestnuts to have a crunchy dessert.