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Mooncake
Variety
This September
celebration gives everyone the green light to go mooncake
nutty as this is the only time of the year the cakes are available.
However, these little cakes weren't always associated with
brightly lit lanterns and happy family reunions.
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The
most commonly seen mooncakes are soft pure lotus paste
compactly wrapped in smooth golden brown pastry. Lotus
paste is actually a combination of lotus seed and lye
water boiled and blended into a |
paste. The addition of peanut oil and cooked glutinous rice
flour result in a sticky paste which is then rolled into a ball,
clothed with a well-mixed dough and stamped with an intricate
pattern.
Mooncakes
either come plain or with one, two, even up to four salted
egg yolks tucked snugly in lotus paste filling. The ones with
single egg yolk are thought to represent the loneliness of
the Chinese goddess Chang Er who flew to the moon to escape
the clutches of her husband.
Apart
from egg yolks, some lotus paste fillings are also sprinkled
with assorted nuts, fruits and even ham bits. This has always
been a favourite with older Chinese folks.
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The
immense popularity of mooncakes have inspired many new
recipes, one of which is the non-baked version with soft
chilled pastry. Best kept refrigerated |
and eaten cold, these mooncakes come in incredibly imaginative
flavours like strawberry, orange, pandan, banana, lemon, and
even milk.
While
regular mooncakes are smooth, soft and slightly sticky, special
Shanghai mooncakes are loved for its crunchy pastry. With
a lovely aroma of butter, they come in an imperfectly shaped
ball with shiny glazed brown 'skin' that doesn't crack easily
despite its crispiness.
The
incorporation of local and Japanese elements into the mooncake
is apparent with the births of the durian and green tea mooncakes.
Even ice cream parlours are getting into the game by introducing
kiddie-friendly ice cream mooncakes - ice cream coated with
a sweet chocolate crust bearing similar Chinese-like patterns.
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the latest mooncake additions of jelly and Garfield-shaped
mooncakes, one wonders if, in the race to tap into untouched
mooncake markets, |
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Singaporean have fallen more in love with the unusual rather
than the original. This question can well be laid to rest because
the common sight of stacks and stacks of festive traditional
mooncake boxes in homes all over the country is evidence that
nothing can ever take the place of the real thing.
Other types of Mooncakes
in town
Exotic
- Szechuan pepper truffle; cream chesse and golden raisins;
snowskin ginseng and bird's nest; mother of pearl champagne
truffle, and ganache. Raffes Hotel, $26 - $57
Ice-Cream mooncakes
- Belgium chocolate or snowskin crusts. In flavours like
cookies and cream, and macadamia. Haagen Dazs, $52
- Cempedak, durian: Swensens, $14.80
Halal mooncakes
- With lotus paste and durian paste. For our muslim mooncake
lovers
Vegetarian Mooncakes
- With red/green bean and lotus paste
Find out
more about
Mooncake Variety , Recipes
and Mooncake Molds
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