Mooncake is a Chinese confection that is traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival, although they can be eaten at other times of the year as well. Traditional mooncakes are typically baked and consists of a thin tender skin enveloping a sweet and slightly oily filling, like lotus seed pasteangiesrecipes, bean paste, jujube pasteangiesrecipes, sesame paste, and many other kinds.
Besides its significance in Chinese history, mooncakes play an important role in August Moon gatherings and gift giving. These palm-sized round cakes symbolize family unity and perfection. Some mooncakes have a golden yellow egg yoke in the center which looks like a bright moon. They usually come in a box of four and are packaged in tin boxes with traditional Chinese motifs.

Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony" as well as the name of the bakery and filling in the moon cake. Imprints of a moon (月亮), a woman on the moon(嫦娥), flowers(花), vines(藤), or a rabbit(玉兔) may surround the characters for additional decoration.

This crust has a reddish-brown tone and glossy sheen. It is the most common type of crust used on Cantonese-style mooncakes. It is also the most commonly sold in many western countries. Chewy mooncake crust is made using a combination of inverted sugar syrup, lye water, flour, and oil, thus giving this crust its rich taste and a chewy yet tender texture.

Nobody actually knows when the custom of eating moon cake of celebrate the Moon Festival began, but one relief traces its origin to the 14th century. At the time, China was in revolt against the Mongols. Chu Yuen-chang, and his senior deputy, Liu Po-wen, discussed battle plan and developes a secret moon cake strategy to take a certain walled city held by the Mongol enemy. Liu dressed up as a Taoist priest and entered the besieged city bearing moon cake. He distributed these to the city's populace. When the time for the year's Chung Chiu festival arrived, people opened their cakes and found hidden messages advising them to coordinate their uprising with the troops outside. Thus, the emperor-to-be ingeniously took the city and his throne. Moon cake of course, became even more famous. Whether this sweet Chinese version of ancient Europe's "Trojan Horse" story is true, no one really known.
First lady on the moon: It is generally conceded that Neil Armstrong , the American astronaut, was the first man on moon ( he made that historic landing in 1969). But that's not necessarily the truth to Chinese, who believe that the first people on the moon was a beautiful woman who lived during the Hsia dynasty (2205-1766BC). This somewhat complicated moon-landing story goes like this: A woman , Chang-O, was married to the great General Hou-Yi of the Imperial Guard. General Hou was a skilled archer. One day, at the behest of the emperor, he shot down eight of nine suns that had mysteriously appeared in the heaven that morning. His marksmanship was richly rewarded by the emperor and he became very famous. However, the people feared that these suns would appear again to torture them and dry up the planet, so they prayed to the Goddess of Heaven (Wang Mu) to make General Hou immortal so that he could always defend the emperor, his progeny and the country. Their wish was granted and General Hou was given a Pill of Immortality. More information about Moon Cake Festival

1. Dissolve alkali with water in a bowl. Add in inverted sugar syrup and oil. Beat until thoroughly combined and emulsified. Sift in the half flour and mix to the consistency of smooth paste. Add in another half and use rubber spatula to mix the dough until it becomes as soft as your earlobe. Cover it with plastic film and set aside for at least four hours at room temperature.
   
   
2. Divide dough and filling into 12 portions, each about 17 grams and 65 grams respectively. Flatten a portion of the dough in the palm of your hand and center the filling. Gently push the dough upward from all sides with two hands until all the filling are fully covered. Extend the dough with constant strength to so that the filling can be completely and evenly enclosed. Rub into a ball and coat thinly with flour. Dust the mold with flour and pour off the excess.
3. Preheat the oven to 170C/340F. Stir the egg yolk and white in a bowl until combined. Set aside. Place the filled packet, seam side up, in the floured mold. Press firmly to obtain the clear imprint of the mold and push down the imprinted mooncake onto a baking tray.
   
   
4. Lightly spray the surface of the mooncakes with water and bake for 5-7 minutes on the upper rack of the hot oven. Once the surface of the mooncakes started to appear light-coloured, remove and lower the oven temperature to 150C/300F. Brush the imprints atop the mooncakes with egg mixture and return them to the oven. Bake for 7 further minutes and take out again. Brush with egg mixture once more and return to bake for 5 more minutes until golden.
5. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack. Store the mooncakes in an airtight container. Mooncakes are at their best 2-3 days after baking. The recipe can be easily doubled or tripled if you want to give a thoughtful and homemade gift to your friends.

A Tangzhong starter / Water roux starter is a mixture of flour and water. That is to combine together one portion of bread flour and five portions of water by weight in a pot. Heat up the mixture to bring out the gelatinization of starch in flour. What makes the bread baked with this kind of starter difference is Starch Gelatinization, which helps to engage more water, namely more water will be absorbed, to provide a characteristic softer, more elastic-textured bread. Moreover, the bread will have long-lasting freshness.

1. Place flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast in the mixing bowl, add in milk, and the starter. Mix with dough hook at slow speed for 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium, and continue to mix for 3 minutes on medium speed until a dough forms. Add butter gradually and mix for approx. 5 minutes on medium speed until gluten is fully developed, i. e. elastic, smooth, non-sticky and leave from sides of the mixing bowl.
2. Proof the dough in a lightly greased plastic bag for 1 hour. Leave in a warm place until dough is double in volume. Punch the dough down to release gases produced in the fermenting process. Divide dough into 9 portions, each about 60 grams. Round up and rest for about 10 minutes.
   
   
3. Press the small dough, with the sealing side down, to release the gas. Turn the sealing side up and place 20 grams of nutella in the middle of the dough. Seal the edges of the round to make a bun shape. Place the sealing side down and roll out each into an oval shape. Fold into half and slice the folding part 4 times to obtain a hand pattern. Place them in a baking tray lined with baking paper. Turn each cutting edge over and let rise for about 60 minutes. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with almond slices. Bake in a preheated 175C/350F oven for about 15 minutes.

Chinese cabbage, or Napa cabbage, widely used in Chinese cuisine, is made up about 97% of water, which means, it is low, very low in calories and has zero fat or cholesterol. It is a good source of fiber, vitamin C, folate, calcium, potassium, and manganese.

1. Wash the cabbage, drain well, and cut into chunks. Cut the carrots in the desired pattern. Soak the mushrooms in water for about 20 minutes. Drain and cut into small pieces. Place all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Heat up a skillet with corn oil and add garlic slices and mushrooms. Stir until fragrant, then add carrots and cabbage. Stir for about 3-5 minutes. Pour in the sauce and spring onion segments. Stir constantly until cooked. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

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Just if you some time to kill, or you want to try something different for your kids, then this might be the one for you. My mum said that I should not play with food.....

• 2 Eggs
  
• Pinch of salt
  
• Pinch of chicken bouillon
  
• 50 g Mix of finely chopped carrots, green onions, black fungus

1. Make a small hole in the eggs with a knife, pour out the egg whites and egg yolks in a bowl, add in other ingredients, season and mix well. Refill the egg shells, about 3/5 full, with the prepared mixture. Remember not to overfill, otherwise will be crowned all over while steaming. Steam the rest of the mixture in a small bowl or you could try save some extra egg shells for doing this steamed egg. The mixture shall be enough for 5 egg shells.
   
2. Place them in egg cups and steam for about 10-12 minutes. Allow the eggs to cool a bit, then peel and enjoy !

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Banana bread is a sweet, cake-like quick bread which normally uses baking soda as the leavening agent instead of yeast. This banana bread is very moist and delicious with awesome banana and Nutella flavors!

1. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F. Butter and flour a loaf pan. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.
   
   
2. Stir the softened butter and sugar until they are well mixed. Add in bananas, eggs, vanilla extract and vanilla yogurt. Mix well. Sift in the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated and free of lumps. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
   
3. Warm up the nutella with a bowl of hot water until it reaches the runny consistency. Swirl the Nutella with the batter to create the marble effect.
   
4. Peel and slice the banana. Place them on the center of the batter, sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar and bake in center of the preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Shrimp features prominently in Cantonese cuisine, which is famous for her seafood dishes. Minced shrimp (it's called Bai Hua/百花 in Cantonese cuisine) are often used to fill the mushrooms, bell peppers, tofu, crab shells and ect etc.

1. Remove the shell of the shrimps. Devine and rub them briefly with salt. Rinse and pat the shrimps dry with the kitchen paper. Finely chop the shrimps. Place them in a bowl together with ginger paste, salt and pepper, sugar and egg white. Stir in one direction until the mixture is blended, smooth and elastic.
2. Shape the shrimp paste into 8 balls and lightly coat with cornstarch. Squeeze half lemon into juice, and decorate the edge of a serving plate with the remaining half lemon slices. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl.
   
3. Heat some oil in a pan on high heat until very hot. Carefully lower the shrimp balls into the pan and fry until they are lightly golden. Remove and drain with kitchen paper. Leave a bit of oil in the pan and add in prepared sauce. Cook until the mixture thickens, return the shrimp balls to the pan. Once the shrimp balls are evenly coated with the sauce, transfer them to a serving dish. Garnish as desired.

A nutritious pancake loading with the flavours and texture that every pancake fan craves for. This recipe can be used to create many fruit pancakes, such as strawberry, raspberry, black currant, or black berry.
These fruit pancakes are inspired by Christina Kim @ Deglaze Me

1. Rinse and dry the berries and currants. Whisk together the spelt flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Add in whey, vanilla yogurt, egg yolks and vanilla extract. Stir until all the ingredients blended.
   
2. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the yolk batter until well incorporated. Leave the pancake batter in the fridge for an hour before using. Heat a small amount of butter in a frying pan until it almost starts to smoke.
   
3. Scoop 2 -3 tablespoons of batter into the pan. Drop on a few of berries or currants and cook until it reaches a light golden brown colour, and the bubbles start to appear on the top surfaces of the pancakes , turn over. Cook until lightly browned. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing the pan with melted butter between batches. Drizzle the pancakes with sugar beet syrup and dust with icing sugar if desired. Serve immediately.

If you use fresh spinach, poach them in lightly salted water for 2-3 minutes. Chop them finely before using.

1. Beat eggs and sugar until light and doubled in volume. Add in spinach puree and olive oil. Mix well.
   
2. Sift the flour, starch baking powder and baking soda into the liquid mixture. Finally add in 100 grams of corn kernels and mix.
   
3. Scoop the batter evenly into 11-12 muffin cups, then sprinkle each on the top a few corn kernels. Bake in a preheated 175C/350F oven for about 18-20 minutes.