Shanghai Mooncake

Recipe by

Made With QL Eggs

QL Omega Eggs

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Details

Preparation time1 hour

Cooking time20 minutes

Makes6

Ingredients

Lotus Paste

300 g lotus seeds

½ tbsp lye or alkaline water (for removing skin of lotus seeds)

250 g sugar

225 g groundnut or corn oil

2 tbsp maltose

Water

Pastry (for 6 mooncakes)

300 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

30 g custard powder

80 g icing sugar

125 g salted butter (cold), cubed

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1large QL Omega egg, beaten

¼ tsp vanilla essence

For Assembly

1QL Omega egg (for egg wash)

A handful melon seeds

Method

To prepare the lotus paste, bring a pot of water (sufficient to cover the lotus seeds) to boil. Add the lotus seeds and alkaline water and boil for 5 – 10 minutes (test to see that the skin can be easily removed).
Drain away the hot water and remove the skins on the lotus seeds under fresh cool water.
Remove the green centres of the lotus seeds, if there are any, by piercing through with a toothpick or wooden skewer.
Cook lotus seeds in a fresh pot of water until soft. Leave to cool slightly.
Transfer the lotus seeds to a food processor and process to a fine paste (add 2 – 3 tbsp of water from boiling the lotus seed paste to help with the process).
Place 50 g of sugar in a wok or a pot and add just enough oil to cover the sugar. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has melted and turned golden brown (do not let the sugar get too brown).
Add the raw lotus paste, remaining sugar and oil. Cook, stirring often with a turner until the mixture is thick and stiff.
Add the maltose and cook a while more until the paste no longer sticks to the turner. Leave to cool.
To prepare the pastry, sift the first four ingredients together.
Rub in the butter and oil (this is easiest done by pulsing the ingredients in a food processor).
Pour the mixture out into a mixing bowl and mix in the egg and vanilla. Do not overmix. Rest dough for 20 minutes.
Form the lotus paste into balls of 95 g each.
Form the pastry dough into balls of 100 g each.
Roll out the pastry dough between 2 sheets of plastic. Wrap dough around lotus paste.
Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 10 minutes. Glaze mooncakes with egg wash and decorate with melon seeds.
Continue to bake for another 20 minutes or until pastries are golden.