The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as The Full-moon Festival is just around the corner. It’s time to take out the moon-cakes molds and have some fun in the kitchen. I has actually made these Matcha Green tea Red bean Snowskin Mooncakes couples of weeks ago as one of the products that Cook Up A Passion offer at the Breakfast Point Spring Fair 2016. I am very glad with the very positive feedback about the texture and flavour. Making mooncakes definitely will take quite sometime to do; however, the joys when you share them with your family members and friends worth every second of the hard work.
It is said that on the night of the 15th day of the 8th month of lunar calendar, the moon is at its brightest and roundest. It is a thank giving days when people are thankful for the pleasant weather as well as the good rice harvest. This is the time when crops and fruits are at their best. Friends and families gather together to enjoy the moonlight and share with each other all the awesome food that autumn has been so kind to bring to the earth. The Festival is also a very special Festival for children.
I grew up with deep memory of my childhood living in a lane of 15 families with many children around my age. Every year, couples of months before the Full-moon Festival, all the children in the lane started to make or buy their own colorful lanterns, new clothes and carnival masks, ect… preparing for the full moon night party.
On that night, the full-moon night, each family would bring a big round tray filled with all the beautifully decorated cakes, sweets, fruits and candles to the big community play ground. We all sat down and talked and sang, told stories, under the moon light, doing few rounds of matching and dragon dance, waiting until the the moon came up high and at its roundest. That is the time when we started to share all the food with each other. That beautiful memory will forever stay with me in my memory lane.
The process of making Matcha Green tea Red bean Snowskin mooncakes and mooncakes in general is divided into three main steps, you will need to prepare the filling (red bean paste) and the wrap. I love the combination of matcha green tea and red bean flavour. This combination of flavour is popularly used in many Japanese desert so I decided to give it a go. It is actually not difficult to do at all, but definitely will need much more than a little time. I hope you will enjoy it and wish you and your love ones a wonderful Full-moon Festival.
Matcha Green tea Red bean Snowskin Mooncakes by Cook up A Passion ♥
Serving: 20 small mooncakes
Prepare time: 40 minutes Cooking time: 80 minutes Total time: 2 hours
Click at Red bean paste to make the filling. The total time above is already included the time of making the filling. Below are the ingredients and method to make the Green tea Snowskin wrap and to assemble the mooncakes.
INGREDIENTS:
- 165 g glutinous rice flour
- 82 g rice flour
- 33 g wheat starch
- 50 g plain flour
- 144 g caster sugar
- 650 ml milk
- 125 ml vegetable oil
- 6 tea spoons matcha (green tea) powder
- 12 table spoons roasted glutinous rice flour for coating
METHOD:
- Use a sieve to sieve all the flours and matcha (green tea) powder in a big mixing bow. Add sugar in and mix well to combine and make it into a well.
- Slowly pour the milk into the flour, matcha/green tea and sugar well. Use a spatula to slowly combine the flour and sugar with the milk while pouring. Make sure the flour is well dissolved. I used a food preparation gloves to dissolve the flour as with a glove, my fingers can touch and fill any small undissolved flour. Then pour in the vegetable oil in. Drain through a fine sieve into a shallow tray / pan / bowl. Cover the bowls with foil or cling wrap and steam for 20 to 25 minutes over medium high heat. You may have to do it in few batches. Remove the bowls from the steamer and use chop ticks or a spoon to give the cooked mixture 10 good strong stirs until you see a smooth texture. Let it cool down.
- Spread the snowskin wrap in on to a piece of cling wrap and keep in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before assembling.
- Use the roasted glutinous rice flour to dust your hand and the working surface and divide the snowskin wrap into 20 portions. Roll them into ball shape.
- Divide the filling into 20 portions in ball shapes.
- To assemble the mooncakes: use your fingers to flatten each wrapping ball in round shape and lay each filling ball in the middle of the wrap, carefully and tightly seal the edges. Coat it with the roasted glutinous rice flour.
- Use a brush to coat the mooncake mold with roasted glutinous rice flour, too and carefully press the ball in the mooncake. Tap or press down (depend on which type of mold you use) to release the mooncake.
- They are ready to be eaten or you can store them in air-tight containers in the fridge and use within few days.
NOTE: To roast the glutinous flour: Add the flour in a pan over medium heat and stir constantly for about 5 minutes until the flour turn into very light brown color. Do not over roast the flour, it will get burnt.
