Snowskin Mooncakes (冰皮月饼)

Trio of snowskin mooncakes

Finally, after two days of experiments, I succeeded in making my favourite mid-Autumn festival treat - Snowskin mooncakes. I have not had a good snowskin mooncakes since I moved away from Singapore. Seven long years... I really missed them.

On impulse, I bought a mini mooncake mould at a local Chinese hardware store and started scouring for a simple snowskin mooncakes recipe. After reviewing several websites, I decided to try Christine's and Aunty Yochana's recipes. Both different methods and different flour mixes. 

Soft tender skin with yummy lotus paste

Armed with a list of ingredients, I headed out to the local Asian supermarket. I was happily checking off my list until my hunt for ready-made lotus paste stopped me in my tracks. I checked out canned food, baking goods, even frozen food but no sight of lotus paste. 

Finally, I managed to find a "knowledgeable" store assistant who kindly informed that there is no ready-made lotus paste and I had to make my own! "GASP" - I had intended for a simple mooncake project... I quickly took out my smart phone and google the recipe for lotus paste. This is turning out to be a "massive" project for me.

Green tea, Panda and White Lotus

Two days, countless of YouTube videos and recipe reviews later, I am proud to present my mini snowskin mooncakes which stayed soft and tender even after two days in the fridge. I am not sure if it's still soft after that because they were all gone! =)

White snowskin mooncake, Green tea snowskin mooncake, Panda snowskin mooncake

Recipe

(Makes 8 ~ 10 white mini snowskin mooncakes with single yolk)

45g Fried glutinous rice flour
5g Wheat flour
50g Icing sugar / Powdered sugar
15g shortening
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh milk
80g room temperature water
200g ready made lotus paste
5 Salted egg yolks (cut into half) (Optional)
100g Fried glutinous rice flour (for dusting)

1. Mix flour and sugar together.

2. Rub-in shortening.

3. Add in milk and water. Mix until dough forms.

4. Knead for 5 minutes or until a smooth dough develop.

5. Wrap dough in cling wrap and covered with a damp cloth.

6. Leave in fridge for at least 3 hours.

7. Divide lotus paste into 10 portions - 20g each.

8. Take a portion of the lotus paste and wrapped around the halved salted egg yolks. Repeat until all lotus paste and yolks are used.

9. Covered work surface with cling wrap and dust with fried glutinous flour.

10. Place dough onto work surface and dust dough with fried glutinous flour.

11. Dust your hands with fried glutinous flour. Divide dough into 10 portion - 20g each.

12. Dust a rolling pin and mooncake mould with fried glutinous flour.

13. Using rolling pin, flatten one portion of dough into 1/4 inch thick.

14. Wrap one portion of the lotus paste with the dough. Cover the paste by pulling the dough to the bottom. When all ends of the dough meet, twist and close. Dust again with fried glutinous flour.

15. Repeat until all paste are wrapped in dough.

16. Place a dough into mould. Press lightly. Turn the mould upside down and knock mould against table until dough dislodge. Repeat until all dough are used.

17. Place mooncakes into a plate or box. Cover with wax paper or parchment paper.

18. Chill in fridge before serving.

Note -

3A. For pandan snowskin, add a drop of pandan paste into milk before incorporating into the flour mix. Stir until all pandan paste is combined with milk. Add milk to flour mix and continue with step 3.

3B. For green tea snowskin, heat milk with 1/4 tsp of sugar in microwave for 15 seconds or until hot. Stir in 1/8 tsp of green tea powder until smooth. If lumps form, sift mixture. Add milk to flour mix and continue with step 3.


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Tips & Tricks

1. If possible, leave dough in fridge overnight before making the mooncakes. I noticed that the dough is less sticky and does not break easily after it had been refrigerated. A freshly made dough tends to break easily when wrapping around the lotus paste. This is important for a smooth skin.

2. The dough sticks to everything. Remember to dust your hands and the mould when making the mooncakes. I rolled the dough in a plate of fried glutinous flour before putting into the mould.

3. Gauge the portion required for your dough by placing lightly a ball of lotus paste (without the egg yolk) which covers 3/4 of the hole. Then weigh this portion of the lotus paste and weigh equal portion of the dough. Do not press the paste into the mould. It is very difficult to clean.

4. If you omit the egg yolk, then the lotus paste ball should cover 80% of the hole. The weight of dough should be 3/4 of the paste.

Example - 20g lotus paste required to cover 80% of hole. Dough required is 15g.

5. If too much flour is coating your mooncake after removing from mould, gently throw them back and fro between your hands to remove the excess flour. Alternatively, you can use a soft brush to dust away the excess flour. I just used my hands.

6. Fried glutinous flour is more expensive than normal glutinous flour. So for coating and dusting purposes, I steamed normal glutinous flour under high heat for 25 minutes to cook the flour. Cover the normal glutinous flour with a paper towel and cling wrap your plate or bowl when steaming to prevent water from entering the flour. After steaming, sift the steamed flour and it's ready for use - ONLY for coating and dusting. You can omit this step and use fried glutinous flour for coating.

7. If fresh dough breaks easily, it's too dry. Add some water. If you find it too wet, add some fried glutinous flour. 

8. Will update again for - Lotus Paste recipe and Homemade Salted Eggs recipe.

9. Adapted recipe from Aunty Yochana's. I find that the texture of the dough, from those recipes which require steaming, is harder than those which uses fried glutinous flour.

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My Asian Kitchen

Fried Glutinous Flour

Fried glutinous flour is a type of flour that has already been cooked. To avoid steaming the batter for the dough, you have to use this flour. You can find this flour in most major Asian supermarket. I was unable to find this in smaller Asian supermarkets. This will be found in the Asian flour section. I got this for US$2.50.

Wheat Starch

This is uncooked wheat flour. A small amount of this is added to the dough to make it less sticky. You can find this in most Asian supermarkets (even the smaller ones) and in the Asian flour section. You can steam this, instead of glutinous flour, for coating - See Tips & Tricks #6.  I got this for US$1.50.

Glutinous Rice Flour

This is raw glutinous rice flour. If you are using a recipe which requires steaming the batter or dough, you will use this. You can find this in most Asian supermarkets and in the Asian flour section. I got this for US$1.

Please refer to my Chwee Kuay recipe for a picture of Rice Flour.

Chwee Kueh - Salty Rice Cake (Singapore Style)

Chwee Kueh

It's an acquired taste. When I was young, my mama would remove all the chai po topping before letting us eat this. I hated this plain white salty cake. So it's no surprise that I hardly ever order this dish whenever I eat out. That was until about fifteen years ago, when Tiong Bahru uncle / auntie changed my mind. Those tender smooth rice cakes topped with fragrant chai po... I was hooked. I had to have Tiong Bahru chwee kuay at least once a month. 

Rice cake with radish topping

For those who never had this dish, it's steam salty rice cake with salty preserved radish as a topping. Yup, sounds like a super salty dish. So, getting the right amount of saltiness in the cake is key. It has to be light enough to support the salty radish - it's like a perfect salty marriage. =)

Tender smooth rice cake with loads of chai po on side

It's been tough when I moved away from Singapore. Obvious to say, I must have chwee kueh whenever I return to Singapore and my dear mama will go Tiong Bahru early morning to buy some chwee kueh for my breakfast. (Yes, I know... I'm totally spoilt!)

I haven't had chwee kueh for closed to two years and had suffered from serious withdrawn symptoms - e.g. having sweet dreams of chwee kueh. It's that bad. Time to act on those dreams.

Heaps of chai po

Recipe

Rice Flour 150g
Corn Flour 20g
Tap Water 280ml
Oil 2tsp (for rice cake)
Salt 1 1/2 tsp (Spilt into 1/2 tsp for rice cake and 1 tsp for chai po)
Hot Water 800ml

Garlic 50g (chopped)
Preserved Radish 300g (chopped)
Dried Shrimps 20g (pounded or flossed in food processor)
Sugar 3 tbsp
Dark Soy Sauce 1/2 tsp
Oil 3 tbsp (for chai po)


1. Place rice flour and corn flour into a mixing bowl. Use spatula to gently mix the flour together.

2. Make a hole in the middle of the flour and add in 100ml of tap water into the flour. Gently mix in the flour until all water is incorporated.

4. Add in another 100ml of tap water and gently mix in the flour mixture until all water is incorporated.

5. Pour in the remaining tap water. Mix until the batter is smooth with no lumps. Add in more water if it's too lumpy. Set aside.

6. Stir in oil and 1/2 tsp salt into hot water. Bring water to a boil under low heat.

7. Once water start to boil, add in 1/3 of flour mixture. Stir using wooden spatula until combined.

8. Add in another 1/3 of flour mixture. Stir using wooden spatula until combined.

9. Add in remaining flour mixture. Stir continuously until mixture thicken to a gluey consistency.

10. Turn off heat and continue stirring for additional 5 minutes. Set aside.

12. Pour oil into a bowl. Use a paper towel, dipped into the oil and coat the molds.

13. Use a spoon to scoop the flour mixture into the molds. Fill the molds up to 2/3 full.

14. Place molds onto a flat plate and leave mixture to set in molds for 10 minutes.

15. Steam over boiling water for 20 minutes.

16. Leave to cool in molds.

17. Place dried shrimps into food processor. Grind the dried shrimps until flossed. Or use a pound to break dried shrimps into paste.

18. Add garlic and preserved radish into food processor. Using the chop function, chop the garlic and preserved radish into small pieces. Mixing the ingredients at the same time.

19. Heat up  1 tbsp oil. Add in preserved radish mixture and fry till combined.

20. When the oil dry up, add in another tbsp oil and fry till fragrant.

21. Add in remaining oil, sugar, salt and dark soy sauce. Fry till well-combined.

22. Once the rice cake cool, use a paring knife to run across the sides of the mold to remove the cake from the mold.

23. Top the rice cake with preserved radish.

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Tips & Tricks

1. If the flour mixture is too thick, add some water to loosen it. Do not add too much water, the cake will turn out too watery.

2. Use a wet spoon to scope the mixture into the molds.

3. Use the back of the wet spoon to smooth the top. Scrape away any batter from the spoon when smoothing the top. This helps create a smooth top.

4. If you don't have molds, you can use small bowls.

5. If you don't have food processor, diced the garlic and preserved radish with knife. Mix the garlic, preserved radish and flossed dried shrimps in a bowl with a spoon.

6. When frying the preserved radish, add some oil if it's looks too dry.

7. Do not remove the cake from the molds when it's hot. The cake will become lumpy and watery. Letting them cool in the molds allow the cake to set.

8. Adapted from Kokken.

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My Asian Kitchen

Asian Rice Flour

When buying rice flour, get those from Asia. The texture is slightly different. I got mine from an Asian supermarket for US$1. You can find these near the sugar and flour section.

Refer to Fried Carrot Cake recipe for a picture of the preserved radish.

Fried Carrot Cake

Fried Carrot Cake

Have you ever tried fried carrot cake? This is a well-loved breakfast item in Singapore and Malaysia.

For me, it's a well-loved breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper item. I used to work near Lau Pa Sat and would get a pack of this high calorie supper once a month.  There's something about the soften carrot cake and aromatic eggs that makes me craved for more.

While shopping for noodles at a local Asian supermarket, I came across a pack of ready-made carrot cake. I supposed that's the "divine" sign for me to make my favourite dish. =)

It's in the sauce!

Recipe

500g carrot cake
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons preserved radish
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon chili paste (optional)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 dash of pepper
3 large eggs
3 1/2 tablespoon of oil
2 tablespoon chopped green onion


1. Rinsed and soaked the preserved radish for 10 minutes.

2. Chopped and diced the preserved radish into small pieces.

3. Mixed the preserved radish with sesame oil and set aside.

4. Use a fork to break the yolk of the eggs. Add in 1/2 tablespoon of oil. Beat lightly.

5. Cut the carrot cake into cubes - approximately 1 cm each.

6. Heat up a non-stick pan with 1 tablespoon of oil over high heat.

7. Fry carrot cake till soften and lightly brown. At this stage, you should see all liquid from the carrot cake have completely dried up. Remove from pan and set aside.

8. Heat up non-stick pan with 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Add in garlic and preserved radish. Fried till fragrant and lightly brown.

9. Add in chili paste, if desired.

10. Add in carrot cake. Stir-fry lightly for 1 minute.

11. Add in fish sauce, soy sauce, pepper and sugar. Stir-fry until well-combine for 3 minutes.

12. Spread the carrot cake around the pan and use the back of a spatula, lightly press down on the carrot cake.

13. Turn the heat back on high and pour eggs over the carrot cake. Swirl the pan to spread the eggs. Do not use the spatula to stir or move the carrot cake.

14. Once the eggs set, divide the carrot cake into 4 pieces using the spatula. Flip the carrot cake and cooked the other side for 2 minutes on medium high heat.

15. Plate and serve with green onions.

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