Purple Sweet Potato Snowskin Mooncake: purple obsession

Gabriel brought home a piece of small yellowish snowskin mooncake, he told me "teacher made it!" the smell of the snowskin is ...yuck! too much shortening used! (Don't misunderstanding me, the snowskin mooncake he brought home was placed with his unfinished snack in his snack box, the mooncake was made in class to strengthen the students knowledge on mid-autumn festival, so as a mum you wouldn't let your kid eat this too) and I threw it to rubbish bin straight away. The story didn't end because after lunch my son asked me for the mooncake he brought home! He insisted to have it back, I shown him the rubbish bin and promised to help him make a nice one.

My purple obsession started when I baked Thousand Layers Yam Mooncake, then I saw Wendy's purple sweet potato chiffon and then again Lena's purple sweet potatoes angkoo kuih, so I couldn't get rid of the purple and come out with this Purple Sweet Potato Snowskin Mooncake! This round no food colouring used, is natural romantic purple :)

Thousand Layers Yam Mooncake (Teochew Spiral Mooncake 芋头酥)

Mid-Autumn Festival is around the corner, I'm making this Thousand Layers Yam Mooncake or Teochew Spiral Mooncake for an old friend. Please go to Carol's blog to see the method in making yam paste and the flaky yam mooncake.  

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #11: Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011), hosted by Happy Home Baking.

Penang Tau Sar Piah/ Mung Bean Biscuits 豆沙饼

Ghee Hiang and Him Hiang are the two oldest shops in Penang which is famous for theirs' Tau Sar Piah or Mung Bean Biscuits. I ate this quite often when I was young because the Ghee Hiang shop is just opposite my father working place :) 

After baking my first Siew Pow, I've more confidence in baking my own Tau Sar Piah. I refered to Jane's Corner and My Kitchen Snippets recipes and found that they have some differences in the ingredients, Jane used peeled mung beans and Gertrude used dried mung beans and vineger, both creations were beautifully done. At the end I used Gertrude, My Kitchen Snippets recipe because she didn't use shortening. However, as I don't have dried mung beans, I used mung beans and ...that's really lot of time in preparing the filling, it took me nearly 4 hours in the kitchen just to make these Tau Sar Piah, while two boys rushed me to go picnic with them in West Coast Park! I think this is a good excuse why I forgot to peel the mung beans :) My filling end up in frightening....grey greenish.     

Update on 11 April 2012: Please hop over to my latest Tau Sar Piah to see the photos illustration on how to make the flaky pastries.

Recipe adapted from My Kitchen Snippets

Oil Dough:

175 gram Flour
100 ml vegetable oil


Water Dough:
345 gram Flour
180 ml vegetable oil
135 ml water
¾ tsp vinegar (omitted)


Filling:
50 ml vegetable oil
2 shallots - thinly sliced (used 5 shallots)
150 gram sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp white pepper
400 gram dried mung beans (used 300g mung beans)

Steps:

1. Soak the beans overnight, steamed for 40 minutes or until soft, then Mashed. Add In the sugar, salt and pepper and mix well.

2. Heat up the oil and fry the shallots until lightly brown and fragrant. Add in the bean mixture. Stir and fry until the mixture is slightly dry and you are able to form it into a ball.

3. Remove and divide the filling into 65 small balls. (I made 34 medium balls) Set it aside.

Prepare the dough:

1. Mix ingredients for oil dough until it form into a smooth dough. If the dough is too dry add a bit more oil. Wrap dough with cling wrap and set it aside to rest for 30 mins. Divide into 65 pieces.

2. Mix Ingredients for water dough together until it form into a smooth dough. Wrap dough with cling wrap and set it aside for 30 mins. Divide into 65 pieces.

Please refer to My Kitchen Snippets to see how to assemble the biscuits.

 

Soak the mung beans overnight, steam for 40 mins. then mash.

Add salt, pepper, fried shallots and mix well.(as I forgot to peel the mung beans, the mixture is grey greenish)