Time: September 25th, 2021
Location: Xior Student Housing @ Tongerseweg 135
Host: MUST and VSA
Hi, I am Sunny, the host of the mooncake workshop. Glad to saw y'all last Saturday. We really did have a fun night and I hope you enjoy your time at the belated mooncake festival. Here is the full instruction (hopefully) of the recipe.
Table of content:
Mooncake 1
(source: google)
The one we made in the workshop is actually not a real mooncake we usually eat. Not-real here only means it is not a festival specialty, but it is still a fantastic traditional dessert. For me, any type of traditional dessert in the mid-autumn festival can be called mooncake, of course, that is my personal definition. 😆
The first mooncake we made is called lüdou huang (綠豆黄) or mung bean cake. There are many different versions and the one we tried is originated from Suzhou. And also the flavor I had when I was in Taiwan. It is considered a healthy and elegant dessert. I chose this as our first mooncake option because first, it is easy to handle in a workshop and it can be eaten right away. Secondly, I love this dessert so much personally.
There is a very nice instruction video on Youtube. (There is an English cc subtitle!) I will paste the original recipe below.
Mung bean cake ingredients （for making 25 mung bean cakes)
" Peeled mung bean: 300 g
Unsalted butter: 100 g
Honey: 80 g
Red bean paste: as needed "
We can substitute butter with coconut oil and honey with maple syrup or rice syrup. I used stroop because I only have a limited amount budget lol. The combination of coconut scent, maple syrup, and the natural milky flavor from mung bean is a killer. Trust me, give it a try if you have time.
With some little twist of ingredients, this recipe is surprisingly vegan and gluten-free without ANY compromise on the original flavor and texture. I truly think maple syrup makes this dessert more unique and outstanding.
You can use the same method to make your own red bean paste and the lotus seed paste, the fillings we put inside lüdou huang. Or you can just simply buy a premade package from an Asian market.
This dessert might sound exotic to you. However, after you see through the instruction video, you will discover that the lady is basically making sweet flavor refried beans. So yeah, lüdou huang is a block of refried beans. Forget all the confusing steps in the instruction, you already knew how to make lüdou huang.
Mooncake 2
(source: cookido)
The second mooncake we intended to make is a real mooncake, but because of we were running out of the ingredient and time, most of the people did not have chance to try. It is called Cantonese style mooncake (廣式月餅) Again, Sis Gao made an awesome instruction video on YouTube. Don't forget to turn on cc. Here is the recipe from her description.
Mooncake Ingredients：（can make 16 small mooncakes）
"Invert sugar syrup：75g
oil: 30g
lye water: 10g 2 teaspoons (or 1/4 teaspoon of dietary alkali/ Na2CO3 dissolved in 2 teaspoons of water)
salt: 1g 1/8 teaspoon
Fillings 12 salted duck eggs
lotus seed paste 1 package 450g
Oven temperatures: preheat oven to 400°F/205°C, bake for 5 minutes brush egg wash 325°F/165°C bake for 5 minutes brush egg wash again 325°F/165°C bake for 5-10 minutes"
As you can see, the pastry part of it is already vegan without any twist. You can use rice syrup or maple syrup to replace inverted sugar syrup if you don't want to make it by yourself.
For the filling, it is essentially the exact same filling we put in lüdou huang. Traditionally it is usually red bean paste or lotus seed paste. Moreover, they would put the salted egg yolk in the filling. But as vegans, we won't do that.
Of course, we make our own mock salted egg yolk. The original plan is to season the mung bean paste we used in lüdou huang. Instead of using sugar, the mung bean paste will be seasoned with nutritional yeast and salt to add some saltiness and umami to mimic the flavor profile of cured egg yolk.
Vegan Dinner
Again, because of the limited budget and to ease the cooking process, I have to twist recipes a little bit. Here is the list of the foods we served on Saturday.
Noodle with sesame sauce
(source: ytower)
Noodle with sesame sauce is a very common meal in Taiwan, you can serve it either cold or hot. Cold noodles would go with thinner sauce, and hot noodles would serve with a thicker sauce. The thickness of the sauce can be adjusted by changing the amount of water and oil. Here is a Youtube video as a better reference. In the video, the author put julienned cucumber, carrot, and chicken breast as toppings. These are common toppings for cold noodles. For hot noodles, put some sliced scallions on the top is a common practice. The recipe of the sauce from the Youtube video is below:
"200 g white sesame
4 Tbsp sesame oil
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
200 cc. water
6 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp minced garlic"
You can skip sesame in the food processor and just use tahini or sesame sauce in Asian market instead. Serve with any kind of noodle you want. I have tried with fusilli, which is also nice.
(source: amanda326.com)
It is a very common side dish in Taiwan, and it also appears next to greasy food. It has a lot more sweetness but a less funky flavor compare with the "western" pickle. The way I made it is pretty much the same as the video, however, I add many cloves of garlic and some chili pepper to make it more interesting. It is also very good with fried eggplant sandwiches + pesto!
Slice cucumber -> add some salt to marinate -> wash it and dry it -> add an equal amount of sugar and vinegar -> I also added minced garlic and chili pepper -> leave it in the fridge for at least 20 minutes or longer -> Done!
(source: ytower)
Another common side dish in Taiwan that you can order separately for one huge piece for 1 euro. I have no recipe nor video for this dish. You can check out the video in the link but there is no cc. Basically, I just cooked tofu in soy sauce flavor water for 30 minutes. However, there is one thing that is very important.
This! The Chinese character on the package literally meaning " five-spice stew pouch" This little bag gives the distinct flavor of stew tofu. You don't have to use this brand, some packages would even write "thirteen-spice" I never really know what is inside exactly. Probably some star anise and clove etc. You can easily find this kind of pouch in the Asian market.
Sliced tofu -> put it into pot -> add hot water -> add soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger, scallion, and stew pouch -> taste the marinade first and make sure it is balanced, it is ok to be a little bit salty! -> cook for 30 minutes or so -> Done!
I am glad we can share the food we eat back in Taiwan with y'all. Happy cooking!
Sunny Chen, President of MUST