Snow Skin Moon Cake

 
Ingredients
For the filling (A) – Lotus paste
· 200g lotus seeds, soaked for 1 hour
· 1/2 tbsp alkaline water
· 170g castor sugar
· 1 tbsp maltose
· 1/8 tsp salt
· 170ml oil

For the filling (B) – Pandan flavoured lotus paste
· 200g lotus seeds, soaked for 1 hour
· 1/2 tbsp alkaline water
· 25 screwpine (pandan) leaves, cut into 2–3cm pieces
· 400ml water
· 170g castor sugar
· 1 tbsp maltose
· 1/8 tsp salt

For the skin
· 200g koh fun (commercialised cooked glutinous rice flour, sifted)
· 70g shortening
· 150g icing sugar
· 210ml ice-cold water
· 1/4 tsp lemon essence
· 1/4 tsp orange essence
· 1/8 tsp yellow colouring
· 1/8 tsp apple green colouring


Traditional wooded and new Plastic design  moon cake mold.

Method
For the filling (A)

Put soaked lotus seeds and alkaline water into a saucepan. Add enough water to cover the lotus seeds. Boil for 5–6 minutes, then drain and wash in clean water. Rub off skins. (If using whole lotus seeds, remove the green centres.)

Put cleaned lotus seeds in a pressure cooker with enough water coveringthem. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove and blend into a fine paste in a liquidiser, using a little of the water from the pressure cooker. Put aside.

Heat a non-stick wok with about 70ml oil. Put in one-third of the sugar. Cook on low heat until sugar turns a light golden caramel, then turn off the heat.

Pour in the blended lotus paste. Mix well to dissolve the caramel and continue to cook on low heat, stirring constantly. Add remaining sugar and oil gradually until sugar and oil have been used up.

Continue cooking and stirring the paste until mixture turns thick. Stir in the maltose until the paste is really thick and leaves the sides of the pan. Divide into portions of required weight.

Form into a round ball and wrap a small portion of pandan filling (B) in the centre. Lightly coat each ball of filling with koh fun before wrapping.

For the filling (B)

Put soaked lotus seeds and alkaline water into a saucepan. Add enough water to cover the lotus seeds. Boil for 5–6 minutes then drain and wash in a colander. Rub off the skins.

Blend pandan leaves and water in a blender. Strain to obtain 400ml pandan juice. Stir in a few drops of green colouring and set aside.

Put cleaned lotus seeds and pandan juice into a pressure cooker. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove and blend into a fine paste in a liquidiser, using a little of the pandan juice from the pressure cooker. Put aside.

Cook the paste in the same way as the lotus paste.

For the snow skin

Sift koh fun and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre. Add shortening and essence to mix. Pour in the cold water. Quickly hand-knead into a soft, smooth dough.

Divide dough into 3 portions. Leave one portion plain. To the other two portions add colouring to mix. Weigh 20g plain dough and two portions of 25g of each coloured dough. Combine them together and roll out into a thin circle that is large enough to wrap a ball of filling. Do this between two sheets of plastic wrap.

Press the wrapped-up dough into wooden mooncake moulds that have been lightly dusted with koh fun. Next, knock mooncakes out of the mould.

Store the snow skin mooncakes in an airtight plastic container in the refrigerator. (Chef’s note: Snow skin mooncakes will only last up to 4 days refrigerated.)

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