Teochew Spiral Yam Mooncake (千层芋泥酥）

INTRODUCTION

My mooncake series is toward the end this year and I felt that the mooncake series is not complete without the so called Teochew Spiral Yam mooncake.

This is a mooncake that are rather common in  Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia in recent years. I have never heard about it when I was a kid ages ago. I have never heard about it when I stationed in China years ago… and in PRC’s recipe website, you can hardly find any recipes on this mooncake… In PRC’s mooncake trading website in the Chaozhou area, this is not a common item either….

Hmmm, why it become popular in Malaysia and Singapore is unknown.. Teochew dialect is famous for its sweet desserts – Yam Paste or Orni and it is well liked by the other dialects as well.. Teochew traditional mooncake is characterized by its flaky crust and that is the crust used for this mooncake. Instead of a flat disc shape, it was shaped round and playing with the pattern of two dough of different oil contents.. Putting these two together is not a bad combination at all.

Putting that aside, for foodies who like yam or taro, this is a mooncake that should not miss. It is full of yam fragrance and goes well with the aromatic flaky crust..

This is the bake version though some recipe called for deep frying. Preparation is not very difficult but a bit laborious and I am sure you will not complain about the hard work when you took the first bite.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

Recipe adapted from : Teochew Spiral Yam Mooncakes

Servings: Prepare about 12 spiral yam mooncakes

• 500 grams of yam （芋头）- de-skin and cut into big slices
• 150 grams of castor sugar (细砂糖）
• 80 grams of cooking oil （食用油）
• 30 grams of wheat starch (澄粉）
• 12 salted egg yolks （咸蛋黄）

 

Oil Dough

• 180 grams of plain flour （普通面粉）
• 100 grams of vegetable shortening or peanut oil or other fats (白油, 花生油或其他油）

Water dough:

• 200 grams of plain flour （普通面粉）
• 50 grams of vegetable shortening or peanut oil or other fats (白油，花生油或其他油）
• 30 grams of castor sugar （细砂糖）
• 100 grams of plain water (白水）
• 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar (白醋）

Note: For this illustration, I have used vegetable shortening for the oil dough and peanut oil for the water dough. I have only prepare 4 with egg yolks and the illustration size is much bigger than the recipe size and with much thinner crust. This recipe yields 12 mooncakes with salted egg yolks, but you can also follow the original recipe of preparing 16 mooncakes without salted egg yolks.

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Steam the cut yam or taro until soft. It will take about 15 minutes but it also depends on your yam quality. Some are harder to steam than the others. While the steamed yam is still hot, transfer to a big bowl, add wheat starch, castor sugar and half of the cooking oil. Mash until as fine as possible. If your taro is very hard and refuse to become soft, use a food processor to blend until puree form.

• In a wok or frying pan, put the other half of the cooking oil, stir fry the yam paste under low to medium heat until it dries up. In this process, you will see  the colour changes to a darker shade. If you prefer, you can sauté some shallots first before you add the yam paste. Once done, set aside for cooling.

• Microwave the salted egg yolk for 20 seconds or steam until it is cooked.

• Preheat the oven to 170 degree Celsius.

• Divide the cooled yam paste into 12 equal portions. Take one portion, shape in round, flatten it, put an egg yolk on top of the yam paste, seal the edges, shape round again and set aside for later wrapping.

• Put all the water dough ingredients in a big mixing bowl, stir and knead until well mixed. Divide into 3 equal portions. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

• Put all the oil dough ingredients in a big mixing bowl, stir and knead until well mixed. Divide into 3 equal portions. Let it rest for 15 minutes.

• Take one portion of water dough, shape round, flatten it , put a portion of oil  dough on top of the water dough, seal it and shape it round. Use a rolling pin to roll the ball into a rectangular shape as evenly and as thin as possible. Roll it up like you are preparing Swiss roll.

• Turn the “Swiss roll” direction with the shorter side pointing at you. Use a rolling pin to roll it again in a rectangular shape as evenly and as thin as possible.  Roll it up again like you are preparing Swiss roll.  Cut the dough in 4 equal portions (here after called “roll dough”). Do the same for the other 2 portions and finally, you shall have 3×4 = 12 roll dough.

• Take a portion of the roll dough, with the spiral design facing you, use a rolling pin to roll it flat, put a yam paste on the centre of the spiral design,  seal the edges, shape it as round as possible and bake in the pre-heated oven of 170 degree Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until your desired colour tone. Alternatively, you can deep fry the mooncake under medium heat until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into pieces for serving.

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CONCLUSION

Hmmm, I hope I am clear in telling you about how to shape this “Jupiter” mooncake as my kids called it.. Haha. Well, possibly you want to look at this video for a clearer illustration on the proper procedures of shaping the mooncake.

Just remember, rolling must be as thin as possible, shaping must be as evenly and as round as possible (before wrapping) and your filling must be at the centre of the spiral design. Always choose the most beautiful centre design to face out and when you seal, seal it as evenly and as round as possible……..

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have nice day.

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This recipe was included in Page 11-13 of the “Easy Mooncake Recipes E-book”. For more mooncake recipes, you can have a copy of “Easy mooncake recipes  – A step by step guide” that was packed with 20 recipes, 45 pages at a reasonable convenience fee of USD4.00. The recipes covered various recipes from durian mooncake, traditional baked mooncake and also the less common Teochew mooncake . You can purchase by clicking the link above.You can either pay using Pay Pal or Credit card account. Please ensure that you have an PDF reader like Acrobat or iBooks in your mobile phone or iPad if you intended to read it in your ipad or mobile phone. Should there be any problems of purchasing, feel free to contact me at kengls@singnet.com.sg and separate arrangement can be made.

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