MOONCAKE & YUANXIAO
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! A day for lanterns, fireworks and family reunions. Make sure you look up to the moon, make a wish and of course, eat lots of moon cake.
These days, most people just buy moon cake. In Singapore, where we currently live, moon cakes are everywhere and you wonder if people here still bake this traditional mid-Autumn festival food in their homes. As I searched on the internet for moon cake recipes, I found this post that made it this culinary adventure sound doable.
Traditional Baked Mooncake Recipe
from HOUSE OF ANNIE
I am posting a link so you can check out the step by step instructions with matching photos that look seemingly easy to follow. So,if you have time & interest to try this out..go for it!
Click here for Annie’s Baked Mooncake Recipe
Since we spent the whole week talking about Lanterns, I couldn’t let this week pass without sharing with you some recipes for Yuanxiao –the official food of the Chinese Lantern Festival.
Yuanxiao/Glutinous Balls
or Tangyuan
Yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) or Tangyuan is the special food for the Lantern Festival. It is believed that Yuanxiao is named after a palace maid, Yuanxiao, of Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty. Yuanxiao is a kind of sweet dumpling, which is made with sticky rice flour filled with sweet stuffing. And the festival is named after the famous dumpling. Yuanxiao is sticky, sweet and round in shape, symbolizing family unity, completeness and happiness. Info Source
Learn more about Yuanxiao Glutinous Balls
You can find Yuanxiao in oriental food stores.
In Singapore, they are available in all supermarkets.
Fair Price, Paya Lebar
If you enjoy cooking, here is a recipe you can try out:
Yuanxiao Recipe
Source
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups glutinous (sticky) rice flour
7/8 cup (14 tablespoons) butter
7 oz (200 g) black sesame powder
1 cup sugar
1 tsp white wine
Instructions:
1. Mix butter with sesame powder, sugar and wine. You may need to heat the mixture a little to soften it. Let the mixture cool and then form into very small balls (as big around as a penny).
2. Put the rice flour in a bowl and mix with a little water at a time until it holds together and is soft like play-doh.
3. Make the dough into balls a little smaller than a golf ball. Make a deep indentation in each ball and put the smaller balls of sesame powder mixture inside, and then close it up completely.
4. Cook them in boiling water. Make sure to keep stirring gently in one direction while cooking. When the water reaches a boil, add some cold water and let it boil again. When they float on the water, continue to boil for about one minute at a lower temperature.
5. Remove from the pan immediately. Serve them while hot in a bowl covered with the water they were cooked in. You can also add some ginger and sugar to the broth to make a sweet syrup.
*This recipe has been partially adapted from: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesenewyear/r/yuanxiao.htm
Check out these other Yuanxiao recipes:
1. Hanchao’s Yuanxiao Recipe
(with black sesame seeds)
2. Angie’s Yuanxiao Recipe
with matcha tea and cacao powder)
Read more about TANGYUAN/Yuanxiao on Wikipedia
DAILY DOSE OF ART 
Recent Comments