Make your own mooncakes simply, no oven needed

1. Bake moon cakes in a cast iron pot or rice cooker:

- Ingredients for making cakes:

+ Crust:Sugar syrup for mooncakes: 200g; Cooking oil: 50ml; Baking soda: 1/4 tsp; Flour: 300 – 320g

+ Cake filling:Roasted cashews: 100g; Roasted white sesame: 100g; Roasted peeled melon seeds: 100g; Boiled Chinese sausage: 150g; Pumpkin jam: 150g; Lotus jam: 100g; Sugar lard: 100g; Shredded lemon leaves: 5 leaves

+ Mixed sauce:Powdered sugar: 20g; Filtered water: 40g; Corn syrup: 50g; Soy sauce: 5ml; Sesame oil: 10ml; Wine: 20ml; Sticky rice flour

Making:

- Step 1:Mix all the ingredients for the crust together (except the flour). Then gradually add the flour until it forms a smooth dough. Let it rest for at least 4 hours before making the cake. If the dough is too wet, add more flour, if it is too dry, add more sugar water.

- Step 2:Mix all the ingredients in the filling sauce (except the mooncake dough) and stir well to dissolve the sugar.

- Step 3:Dice all the ingredients for the filling, and slice the kaffir lime leaves. Put the filling into a large bowl. Slowly add the sauce mixture. Then add the sticky rice flour spoon by spoon, mixing well. Test to see if the ingredients are sticky. If it is loose, add more wine or corn syrup. If it is too wet, add more sticky rice flour. When the ingredients can be formed into round balls, it is done.

- Step 4:The ratio of the crust to the filling is 1:2, meaning 1 part crust to 2 parts filling. Divide the filling and crust into portions and shape them into balls.

For example: For a cake weighing 150g, the crust will be 50g and the filling will be 100g (including salted egg if any).

- Step 5:Take each dough piece and roll it out thinly. Place each filling piece in the middle, shape and flatten the dough so that the dough fits snugly around the filling. Sprinkle a little flour on the dough balls and put a little into the mold to prevent sticking. Press firmly with your hands to make the cake crisp, then prepare to bake.

* How to grill with cast iron pot:

– Step 1:Before baking, you should preheat the pot for 5 minutes. After closing the cake mold, prepare a cast iron pot, place 3 stainless steel spoons upside down in the pot, then place a stainless steel microwave rack in it and a thin aluminum tray on top, add more aluminum foil and put the cake in to bake.

– Step 2:When you start putting the cake in, cover the lid and use the lowest heat. The baking time with a gas stove will be a little longer than the oven, it will also bake 3 times like the oven but you have to watch. Because making moon cakes without an oven will not have a bell to signal when the cake is done.

– Step 3:Making moon cakes without an oven also involves brushing the surface of the cake when it cools. You brush the surface of the cake and spray water twice.

– Step 4:Bake the cake for 10 minutes the first time, when the cake is golden brown and the top is golden brown, let it rest, spray with water and wait for it to cool, then brush with a layer of egg. Bake for about 12 minutes the second time and repeat the steps as the first time. Bake for 10 minutes the third time and repeat the steps as the other two times.

Note: Depending on the size of the moon cake baking pot, you should adjust and monitor the temperature appropriately.

– The pot used to bake moon cakes is a cast iron pot, you should not use an aluminum or stainless steel pot because it will absorb heat strongly, causing the cake to burn. If you do not have a cast iron pot, you can use a thick-bottomed aluminum pot to bake the cake.

– You can use the baking rack in the oven or use a 4-legged rack to invert the sponge cake while it cools.

* How to bake with rice cooker:

Prepare some wax paper, wipe the inside of the pot clean and then line it with wax paper. To make the cake more fragrant, you should preheat the rice cooker by pressing the "Cook" button and then use a brush to spread a layer of butter or cooking oil on the bottom of the pot and then line with wax paper.

After shaping the cake with the available mold, you put the cake into the pot, arrange the distance between the cakes far apart to avoid sticking and then press the cook button. Usually, the rice cooker will have a cooking mode of about 35 to 50 minutes, you wait until the rice cooker switches to keep warm mode, then continue to press the cook button to bake a second time. Do this until the cake reaches the desired golden color.

If you don't want the cake to dry out, every time you switch to steaming mode, open the lid and brush the remaining sugar water on the surface of the cake to make the cake fragrant and crispy.

2. Purple sweet potato mooncake

- Ingredient: 450gr purple sweet potato; 200gr fresh lotus seeds; 100gr sugar; 20ml cooking oil;

- How to do

Step 1:Wash lotus seeds, split in half to remove core and put in water to simmer.

Step 2:Grind the lotus seeds until smooth with sugar, then put the pan on the stove, cook over low heat, stir-fry the lotus seed mixture until the mixture thickens, then add cooking oil and mix well.

Step 3:Steam purple sweet potatoes until cooked, peel and mash. Then strain through a sieve to remove the fiber, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Step 4:Divide the sweet potatoes and lotus seed filling into equal portions (Note that the sweet potato portion is twice the amount of lotus seed filling).

Step 5:Flatten the sweet potato, put the filling in the middle, roll it into a ball and put it in a mold. Keep it in the refrigerator before using or eat it right away, both are delicious.

Purple sweet potato mooncakes have beautiful colors, simple to make, and a strange sweet and fatty taste that will make users extremely excited.

3. Mooncake with pandan filling:

- Raw materialsCrust:460g roasted sticky rice flour also known as banh chung flour; 1 liter + 50ml banh chung sugar water; 1/2 teaspoon pandan essential oil; 1 teaspoon grapefruit flower water; 60ml cooking oil (choose light-colored oil).

- Ingredients for the filling:250g skinless mung beans; 170g sugar; 60g sticky rice flour + 100ml oil mixed in a bowl; 30g chopped pumpkin jam; 1/3 teaspoon salt.

How to make phuman part:

Step 1:Soak mung beans in water for at least 3 hours before cooking, then rinse. Put mung beans, about 600ml cold water, salt in a pot, bring to a boil.

Step 2:Put hot mung beans and sugar in blender and puree.

Step 3:Put the pureed filling into a non-stick pan with cooking oil mixed with flour, put on the stove and stir-fry over medium heat. When the filling starts to come together, lower the heat and continue stirring until the filling comes together and does not stick to the pot. Then add the pumpkin jam and stir-fry for another 5 minutes and turn off the heat. Let the filling cool slightly and then roll into balls.

-The crust

Step 1:Put sugar water, cooking oil, pandan essential oil, grapefruit flower water in a large bowl, then slowly add flour, use a spoon to gently stir well.

Step 2:When the dough comes together, knead it with your hands until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Step 3:After letting the dough rest overnight, divide the dough into portions according to the weight of the mold.

For sticky rice cakes, if you use a 200gr mold, the filling is 80gr and the dough is 120gr.

Step 4:Flatten the dough ball, put the mung bean filling in the middle and roll it into a ball again.

Step 5:Sprinkle some dry flour into the mold to prevent sticking, then put the dough ball with filling into the mold, use the palm of your hand to press firmly around the mold. Then tap one corner of the mold and gently remove the cake.

Pandan sticky rice cake with green bean filling has a refreshing taste, beautiful green color, easy to eat and easy to make. Especially suitable for vegetarians.

Good luck!