Kabocha Salted Egg Yolk Mooncakes with Sago Pearls
Makes 8mooncakes
Ingredients
Snowy Mooncake Wrapper
180gunsweetened full-fat coconut milk (~200ml)
15gvegetable oil (1 tablespoon)
50gglutinous rice flour
35grice flour
20gtapioca flour
45gicing sugar
Kabocha Salted Egg Yolk Filling
160gkabocha squash, steamed and mashed
3salted egg yolks, cooked
25 - 40g(3 - 5 tablespoons) powdered sugar
28g(2 tablespoons) full-fat coconut milk
1/2cupsago pearls, cooked (~1/3 cup uncooked)
Toasted Rice Flour (for dusting)
1/4cuprice flour
Instructions
Snowy Mooncake Wrapper
In a measuring cup, combine coconut milk and vegetable oil.
In a separate bowl, whisk together glutinous rice flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, and icing sugar.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix well using a whisk, making sure no clumps remain.
Strain mixture through fine-meshed sieve to remove any clumps. Use the back of a spoon to press on any clumps to smooth it out.
Over medium heat, steam the mixture in the bowl for 30 minutes, until it becomes slightly transparent.
Remove the bowl from the pot and stir the mixture with chopsticks for several minutes until the mixture is glossy and smooth.
Transfer the dough to a plate and cover with saran wrap. KneadĀ for several minutes until the surface becomes oily.
Form the dough into a disc and refrigerate for at least three hours before assembling the mooncake. A warm dough is too sticky to handle.
Kabocha Salted Egg Yolk Filling
Wash kabocha to remove any dirt that may be on the exterior. Cut kabocha in half and scoop out the seeds. Depending on the size on the squash you have, you may only need 1/3 or 1/2 of the squash.
Place kabocha half into a steamer or steaming basket. Steam until tender to the fork, roughly 20 - 25 minutes.
Remove squash from steamer. Using a fork or potato ricer, mash the kabocha into a smooth paste.
In a separate bowl, separate the cooked salted egg yolks from the whites. Mash the the yolk with a fork until it becomes a coarse paste.
Combine the egg yolk mixture and kabocha paste. Mix in powdered sugar. Add the coconut milk, a tablespoon at a time, until it forms a thick paste. You may need more or less coconut milk depending on how much moisture is inherently in your squash. At this point, I also like to taste the mixture to see if it needs more sugar. Salt levels of salted egg yolk can vary depending on brand.
Lastly, fold in cooked sago pearls. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Toasted Rice Flour (for dusting)
Toast rice flour in a dry frying pan over medium heat for about 3 - 5 minutes until rice brown turns a light golden colour.
Set aside to cool.
Assembly
For a small (50g) mooncake press, weigh out 35-gram scoops of squash filling and gently shape each portion into balls. Set aside.
Divide and weigh the dough into 15-gram pieces. Roll out each piece of dough between to pieces of saran wrap until 1/8 inch in thickness.
Place ball of filling in the centre of each piece of dough. Wrap the squash filling with rolled-out wrapper dough and seal completely. Shape into an oval shape, so it will easily slide into the mooncake mold. Dust the bottom of the mooncake ball with toasted rice flour.
Dust the mooncake mold with toasted rice flour and insert dough ball into the press. Press on the mooncake mold to shape the mooncake. Carefully remove from the mold. If any sides of the mooncake is too tacky, brush on toasted rice flour.
Notes
Yields 8 - 10 mooncakes (*depends on size of mooncake press)