2023 Mid Autumn Festival 

Shanghai Moon Cake 

                                     Friday 2023/9/29

                                                                     

This year Mid Autumn festival is on Friday September 29, 2023. I prepared in advance 2 kinds of Shanghainese moon cakes to share with relatives and friends.

Moon cake is also called round moon, harvest cake, reunion cake. It is one of the Chinese Han's traditional foods. It was initially used as offerings for worshipping the moon god,
which was a very old tradition of China. Actually it was an activity of ancient people for worshipping the moon god. Nowadays, eating moon cakes and watching the moon during Mid Autumn festival are the vital customs in the North, South and elsewhere in China. Moon cakes symbolize big reunion , people eat them as festive foods, use them to worship the moon, give them as gifts to relatives and friends.
Moon cakes are integrated with local cultures, Canton , Shanghai, Shanxi, Beijing, Jiangsu, Chaozhou, and Yunnan have developed their own versions, beloved by their locals and aliens.

Eating moon cakes became a traditional custom in East Asia. Canton, Chaozhou, Jiangsu, and Beijing four styles are the most popular Chinese moon cakes. Jiangsu style moon cake initially called "Puff style moon cake", later evolved to Jiangsu style moon cake. It becomes part of Jiangsu style cakes. Its dough is puff pastry, colours are elegant, fillings are rich and not fatty, many varieties. Shanghai style moon cake was originated from Jiangsu style moon cake, very westernized , exterior puff pastry is more crispy. The representative is pork meat moon cake, the fillings are round minced pork, the puff pastry is crispy , juicy but firm. It is best to eat it when it is still hot.

Prior to and during the Song Dynasty, moon cakes had not been mentioned to exist in any literatures.

At the end of the Yuan dynasty when ruling was corrupted, Chu Yuan-chang (朱元璋) united other strong forces and prepared to stage an uprising in mid Autumn. But the Yuan government searched and raided very seriously, passing news were very inconvenient. Army Advisor Liu Bowen (劉伯溫) devised a new tactic, commanded subordinates to place a piece of paper written "August 15 Kill the Tatars" inside the moon cakes. They distributed the moon cakes to rebel army everywhere. On Mid Autumn day, the rebel army responded. Finally, Chu Yuan-chang seized state power and became the first emperor of the Ming dynasty. Every Mid Autumn Festival, the government distributed moon cakes with written secret notice to reward ministers.

In the Ming dynasty, moon cakes were mentioned in literatures to link with Mid Autumn. They became popular in the public. In the Qing dynasty, recipes of moon cakes were recorded in some literatures.

Shanghai Moon Cake

Crust Ingredients: Low-Gluten flour, brown sugar, salt, olive oil, sun flower seeds oil, lye water (alkaline water)

Purple Yam fillings: purple yam, chestnuts, mayonnaise, honey

Taro fillings: taro, chestnuts, mayonnaise, honey

Methods:

1. Making of crust: Sieve low-gluten flour , pour in brown sugar syrup, lye water.
2. Add olive oil, sunflower seeds oil bit by bit
3. Mix well
4. Knead to dough
5. Roll into round strips, wrap with plastic wrap, keep in room temperature for 2 hours
6. Make out moon cake: by the hand, flatten crust into round disc, put some fillings, wrap around the fillings
7. Close the opening of moon cake
8. Use the hand to make the moon cake round
9 Bake under 350 degree 30 minutes in the middle of the oven until golden

▲ Purple yam fillings

▲ Taro fillings

Next,

《2020 Year of the Rat Basin Feast》

Publisher： Chef Kar Delight

Creative《Year of the Ox New Year Delights》

                                                                                   Wednesday 2021/2/10

Creative《Year of the Ox New Year Delights》

On  Friday February 12, 2021 Year of the Ox, I created 3 types of New Year celebration delights to share with friends:

Abalone Daikon Cake Donut, Golden Jin Deui + Ox Horn Jin Deui

▲ Abalone Daikon Cake Donut

Since the shape of abalone looks like ingot,  a common saying: "one bite of abalone is one bite of gold". Placing a Candy Abalone on top of a Daikon Cake Donut means round and reunion, expressing elegant, eye catching and delicious. 

 

Method of Preparing Candy Abalone:

First, remove the flesh of abalone from the shell; cut off the intestine and small piece of gristle at the head end; trim off the frill and lip. Sprinkle some salt on the meat and brush the surface of the meat with tooth brush. Rinse with cold water.

I invented a new method of braising fresh abalone: Pour the secret abalone sauce below into a stainless steel container. Put the cleaned abalone in the sauce. Place the container over a steaming pot. Cover the steaming pot with lid. Use extremely low fire to braise for 4 to 5 days. Be patient.

Main Ingredient: frozen fresh abalone

Secret Abalone Sauce: chicken soup base, ginger, shallot, garlic, onion, Shaoxing wine (Hua Diao), oyster sauce, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, rock sugar, salt

Method of Preparing Daikon Cake Donut:

Use the following ingredients of Daikon Cake Donut to make a thick paste , pour the paste into a donut mold pan and place it in a steaming pot under high fire for about one hour. Put a Candy Abalone on top of a Daikon Cake Donut. Sprinkle some abalone sauce on top and enjoy.

Ingredients of Daikon Cake Donut:

Daikon radish (Lo Bok) shreds, Candy Abalone pieces, dried scallops, dried shrimps, shiitake mushrooms, shallot, abalone soup, rice flour, corn flour, wheat starch, white pepper powder, salt

   

Sauce: Secret recipe of abalone sauce, corn starch

Best way of preparing Abalone Daikon Cake Donut:

1. Pour some abalone sauce into a wok on low fire, stir it constantly. Set it aside.

2. Pour little oil on a wok and place Daikon Cake Donut on it with face up. Sprinkle some water onto the Donut. Put an abalone on the top of Donut. Cover the wok with a lid, under medium fire for 5-10 minutes until the bottom of donut is golden brown and crispy. Pour some abalone sauce, and enjoy. The top of a donut should be smooth and tender while the bottom should be crispy. 

▲Golden Jin Deui + Ox Horn Jin Deui

Jin Deui is deep fried sesame ball, meaning round and full house of gold and silver！

Golden Jin Deui is traditionally a round ball, fillings  are chestnut, purple yam and red beans, exterior is white sesame.

Lunar year 2021 was Year of the Ox. Therefore, I created Ox Horn Jin Deui. Its shape looks like a croissant. Its ingredients are the  same as those of Golden Jin Deui. But the exterior is black sesame, expressing the sky is filled with air of the ox. Businesses are prosperous and rising. 

Fillings: chestnut, purple yam, red beans, mayonnaise, sugar, salt, vegetable oil

Dough: glutinous rice flour, wheat starch, white sesame, black sesame, sugar, salt, water

Best Way of Preparing Golden Jin Deui and Ox Horn Jin Deui:

Place Golden Jin Deui and Ox Horn Jin Deui on a baking pan. Put the pan into an oven with 350∘ for 5-10 minutes. The result is that Jin Deui becomes soft but crispy with less oil. 

Nest, 

《2023 Mid Autumn Festival Shanghai Moon Cake》

Publisher： Chef Kar Delight

 

2022 Christmas Turkey Dinner    12/25/2022 Sunday

2022 Christmas Turkey Dinner

Christmas Day in 2022 fell on Sunday which was my day off. My friend Sunny invited me to their home for celebration of Christmas. He, his wife Susanna, neighbor Xiong junior from Taiwan and I participated. He gave me a big turkey to prepare. I arranged other delightful dishes for the evening. We enjoyed eating and drinking and felt very happy. After dinner, Susanna washed all the dishes. Unfortunately, this night was my last supper with her. I missed her.

Menu

British Traditional Christmas Roast Turkey + Turkey Risotto

Turkey Pumpkin Soup

Serbian Božićna Česnica

Montenegro Patišpanj

Chestnut Purple Yam Donut

▲British Traditional Christmas Roast Turkey

Ingredients: turkey 7Kg、olive oil, salt, black pepper, rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, lemon, carrot, Brussel sprouts,  celery stalks, chicken broth, water 

Cranberry Gravy: cranberry, sugar, sage leaves, flour, butter, roast turkey sauce, water

▲Turkey Risotto 

Ingredients: Arborio rice, roast turkey sauce, green peas, carrot, tomato, olive oil, water

▲Turkey Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients: turkey heart, liver, neck, pumpkin, olive oil, onion, garlic, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, black pepper, maple syrup, cream, water

▲Serbian Božićna Česnica 

A key component of a Serbian Christmas meal is the Česnica, a special honorary bread prepared for this occasion. Similar to a Slava bread, it is decorated with various symbols of importance like a cross of course, grapes, a barrel, wheat, and other things. 

Other items usually included:

Dren/Drenjina (cornealian cherry) to symbolize good health;

Wheat, to indicate a good harvest/fruitful year;

A piece of the yulelog used in Christmas rituals to symbolize fertility and success;
Corn and beans to represent good health for any livestock.

Unlike Slava bread, the Česnica has special symbolic items hidden inside. One item in particular that everyone hurries discreetly to find is the coin.

When it’s time to eat, everyone breaks off a piece of the bread and whoever’s piece contains the coin is said to have good luck and lots of money the rest of the year.

Ingredients: flour, yeast, sugar, salt, milk, yogurt, olive oil, eggs

For brushing: egg yolk, milk

▲Montenegro Patišpanj

Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain.
Their original name is “Pan di Spanga”, which in translation means Spanish cake or bread.
Patišpanj is Montenegrin traditional sponge cake, influenced by Western Europe especially Spain. Its main ingredients are flour, eggs and sugar. Due to festive celebration, Christmas decorations are added.

Ingredients: flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, baking powder, butter, warm water

Christmas Decorations: cranberry, strawberry, mint, Kajmak cream cheese, icing sugar 

▲Chestnut Purple Yam Donut

Ingredients: chestnut, purple yam, mayonnaise, maple syrup

Decoration: strawberry

Next: 

Creative《Year of the Ox New Year Delights》

Publisher： Chef Kar Delight