HAVE you ever wondered what goes into making the perfect mooncake? Each piece is meticulously prepared so the end result is a tasty product of sweet and savoury dessert.
Pastry Chef Kwok Kam Hung from Shanghai Restaurant at JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur took members of the media through the tedious step-by-step process of making mooncakes recently.
Weighing to perfect ion: Chef Kwok measuring each mooncake mould paste to make sure each weighs 50gm.The first step saw Chef Kwok assembling hand-made moulds to wrap around the salted egg yolks.
The moulds are made of lotus seed paste, sugar and flour.
We were told that one kilogramme of the flour paste can make up to 20 moulds, where each weighs 50gm.
“Each has to be properly measured using an old weighing scale. The salted egg yolks are also raw before it is baked,” said Chef Kwok.
The next step involved making the outer most layer of the mooncake, made out of sugar, oil and Hong Kong-made flour.
From scratch: The ingredients are prepared and made by hand.Chef Kwong expertly flours the wooden top of the counter and lays the dough, followed by using a rolling pin to smoothen it out.
Each is piece 7.5cm in diameter.
After enveloping each mooncake with the last layer, Chef Kwong fits each cake into a wooden mould to brand the cakes with the intricate surface design.
Then it all goes into the oven and baked for 15 minutes.
In conjunction with the The Mid-Autumn or Mooncake Festival, Shanghai Restaurant is offering five tantalising mooncakes, presenting a variety which includes the Pandan Flavoured Snow Skin with Pineapple Paste, Baked Roasted Chicken Mooncake, Deep-Fried Mooncake with Yam Paste, Snow Skin with White Lotus Paste and Baked Mooncake with White Lotus Paste.
The interesting combination of pineapple paste and pandan-flavoured snow skin is definitely a must-try.
The unique chicken mooncake is packed full of ingredients such as dried scallops, chicken, ham, dried sweetened winter melon, nuts and white sesame seeds.
The Deep-Fried Mooncake with Yam Paste is conjured traditionally from fresh yam paste for the delicious melt-in-your-mouth effect.
In keeping with the tradition, the Snow Skin with White Lotus Paste is a chilled mooncake filled with salted egg yolk and also not to be missed is the Baked Mooncake with White Lotus Paste.
The delectable morsels are packed in specially designed boxes by Shanghai Tang which contain up to four pieces while preserving freshness.
Shanghai’s mooncakes are priced between RM9++ and RM11++ per piece.
A 10% discount will be accorded to guests who purchase 10 boxes and above within a single receipt and for every purchase of two boxes, guests will receive a tin of Chinese Tea (while stocks last).
The mooncakes are available from Aug 8 until Sept 12.
For enquiries, call Shanghai Restaurant on 03-2719 8288.
