Mid Autumn Festival (1) - Dragonfruit Jelly Mooncake

 

It's the 8th month in the Chinese Lunar calendar and that means "Mid -Autumn Festival " is around the corner. I have always remember how it was celebrated every year, I always make it a point to bring the kids in the evening after dinner for a walk around the "Taman" we stayed, with each of them carrying their candle-lighted lantern. Then we will stopped at the nearby basketball court , where other neighbors joined in with their kids too. 

Later in the night, I will normally make a pot of  hot refreshing 'Jasmine Green Tea' and serve mooncakes, for the past few years all the mooncakes were either bought or given as gift by friends (except for the jelly Mooncakes, hehe), but this year is definitely going to be 'different' as I am serving 100% Homemade mooncakes....yeah!!! How does that sound? I just love it because it's not so much of the quality or what, but knowing that it was homemade, its just feels satisfying!!

So, to start of this Mid-Autumn festival celebration preparation, I made some Dragonfruit jelly Mooncakes to kick off, as this is the easiest and the kids just love to eat them since I have a few packets of agar-agar powder in the cupboard. Of course, the mission will be to learn to make some snowskin mooncakes and as you might still remember my last year traditional mooncakes (the bake ones) are not as nice and presentable too. So I'm going to try some new recipes and improve it :)

This is a very simple jelly mooncake, so for those of you who are interested to make some for the kids in the house or the neighborhood, do try it out. Hope you and your family will like it ......stay tuned for more Mid-Autumn Festival Mooncake preparation coming soon......cheers!

DRAGONFRUIT JELLY MOONCAKE RECIPE

(Makes about 8-9 mooncakes)

Ingredients for Filling

25gm caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp agar-agar powder

125ml water

70ml fresh milk

55ml evaporated milk

1. Put sugar, agar-agar powder and water in a pot under medium heat. Stirring to dissolve the agar-agar powder and sugar and bring tit to a boil. Turn the heat off and add in the milk , stir to mix.
2. Pour the solution into small molds (eg. small cups filling only about 1cm in height) and let it set.
3. Remove it from the  mold and use a fork to scratch the surface (top and bottom). Set aside.

Ingredients for Skin

100gm caster sugar

4 tsp agar-agar powder

600ml water

150gm red dragonfruit (pureed)

4 pcs of pandan leaves (tied in a knot)

1.  Boil water with sugar, agar-agar powder and tied pandan leaves in a pot. Dissolves the agar-agar powder and sugar and bring to a boil.
2.  Turn the heat off and stir in the pureed Dragonfruit. 

  To Assemble

1. Pour the some 'skin' agar-agar solution into the mooncake mold filling only about 1.5cm.
2. When it is half set, put in the 'filling' and then fill up the mold with the balance of the 'skin' agar -agar solution to the rim of the mold. Let is set.
3. Unmold and chill in the fridge before serving.

Have a nice day!