Hi everyone, I’m Ally. This is my friend Crescent
(Hi I’m Crescent)
We both love hanfu and traditional Chinese culture, that’s why we are both wearing hanfu today
The style I am wearing today, the one on the inside, is a Ming Dynasty standing collar shirt
I have talked about it in my previous video, so if you haven’t seen that video, check it out here
And in my next video, I will be talking about this vest, also from the Ming Dynasty, so stayed tuned for that
But for this video, since the Chinese holiday Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up, we are going to teach you something very useful, which is how to make mooncake
So let’s get right into it!
Let’s start with the filling
The first one is red bean paste. Soak one cup of red beans in cold water for 3 hours
bring to a boil, and then simmer for 30 minutes
Transfer to a blender, add half a cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of butter, blend together
Simmer again until all the water has been absorbed, then let it chill
The mung bean paste follows the exact same steps. Soak in water for 3 hours
bring to a boil, and then simmer for 30 minutes
Transfer to a blender, add half a cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of butter, blend together
Simmer again until all the water has been absorbed, then let it chill
The third one is taro paste. Dice the taro root
Be careful - uncooked taro is poisonous and can cause irritation when consumed raw
Don’t ask me why I know, just don’t eat it raw
Bring the taro to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed
Transfer to a blender, add half a cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of butter, blend together
Simmer again if extra liquid was used in the blending step, or you can manually mash it into a paste
Next let’s make the skin
These are all the ingredients we are using
½ cup of glutinous rice flour, ½ cup of rice flour
and ¼ cup of tapioca starch to substitute wheat starch for this gluten-free recipe
¼ cup of sugar, 2 tbsps of vegetable or canola oil
200 mls of milk
and 2 tbsps of condensed milk or however much you prefer
Mix them all together and make sure you leave no lumps
This batter is enough to make 10 to 20 mooncakes depending on the size
and we are going to repeat this three times to make three different flavors
The first skin is matcha flavored
Add matcha powder into the batter and mix well
We added a lot of matcha here and it can taste somewhat bitter
I would recommend no more than 2 tbsps for color and taste
The second skin is rose flavored
We used dried rose buds here. Separate the stem from the petals
Then cut or tear the petals into smaller pieces
Add them into the batter and mix well
The third skin is mango flavored. Blend mango pieces into juice and add into the batter
Reduce the milk amount in this batter as mango juice will throw off the liquid to flour ratio
An easier alternative would be to use food coloring
After the batter mixture is ready, use a steamer or double-boiler to heat it up, and stir occasionally
It takes 25 minutes or until the batter firms up with a smooth surface
Chill for two hours
Now it’s time to make the mooncakes!
Take out the chilled filling and skin from the fridge
This is the taro paste with mango skin. Make the taro paste into a ball
Take a slightly larger portion from the skin, and make it flat
You can use some flour on your hands to make it less sticky
Wrap the skin around the filling and make a ball
Add some flour on the ball as well
We used a modern plastic mold with removable patterns
Keep the mold on the bottom surface and push the center mechanism all the way down
and then lift the mold slowly while pushing down the center spring
This one is the mung bean paste with rose petal skin
Flatten the skin, put in the filling, and roll it into a ball
Add some flour on the outside
We are using a clear mold to show you the process
The last one is red bean paste with matcha skin
We switched to another mold pattern this time
There’s a place for a tiny flower on the mold so we are adding a little piece of decoration using the mango skin
Add it on the mold first and then press down into the ball
Chill and serve for better texture and flavor
These are the three flavors we made today
taro paste in mango skin
mung bean paste in rose skin, and red bean paste in matcha skin
I personally like the mango and taro one the most
the rose one is really fragrant, and the red bean and matcha is a classic combination
Unfortunately you can’t get ready-made gluten-free mooncakes on the market
but now you know how to make them yourself
I hope the mooncake recipe is simple and easy enough for you to follow
I hope you can all make delicious mooncakes at home for Mid-Autumn Festival
If you like this video, please like and share
If you have anything else you want to learn or if you have anything you want to tell me, please let me know in the comments below
I’ll be making more videos on traditional Chinese culture, beauty, and fashion
Also, this vest is coming up in the next video, so stay tuned
Last but not least, happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you guys! See you next time!