Belated Happy Chinese Mooncake Festival: Mooncake Eating Time!

Last September 22 (I know this is such a late post!), we celebrated the Mooncake Festival or otherwise known as the Harvest Moon or Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie). This day falls on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. It's basically the time when the moon is roundest and brightest. This signifies completeness and abundance. 


Honestly, I didn't grow up in a family that celebrated Chinese occasions. The only time I know it's Mooncake Festival is when we get Moon Cake. The same goes with Chinese New Year but we get Tikoy this time. Don't get me wrong, I love how my family raised me although I'd like to know more about the Chinese culture. :) So Chinese friends, I'm open to a crash course in Chinese culture. :)


Last Tuesday (Sept 28), my parents brought home lots of food from their club's own Mooncake Festival celebration.  One of which is the famous Mooncake. :) Yaaaay! 

It was placed in this tiny shiny box with a lovely design. The design was really charming :)

I love how the box opens like a book to reveal the precious mooncake. :)

Doesn't it look so beautiful with its slight shimmering glaze? I always smile when my parents bring home this Chinese bakery treat because it's gosh darn yummy. 

I decided to cut it in half in such a way that I won't break the special salted egg in the middle. :) The egg inside is supposed to represent the bright moon. Here it is:

The egg inside the Mooncake! Bright orange - it looks like its burning hot!

It tastes a lot like our local Hopia but my mom says it's very much different. 

Hopia (photo courtesy of joysays.wordpress.com)

Obviously, the Mooncake is more stuffed with various fillings than your usual Hopia but it uses the same main ingredient - bean paste. Here's the recipe of Mooncake and of Hopia. :) They're prepared the same way. They drain out the beans and use a flaky dough with lard too so I'm not really sure how different they are aside from the Mooncake's nuttier filling and lovely shape. Although Mooncakes also differ. Some are stuffed with ham, nuts, fruits or just plain bean paste with brown sugar. 

Inside the Mooncake

What I love about this treat is that it brings a lot of family memories to mind. It's an annual treat that we love to share as a family. We always cut it in such a way that each one of us have an "equal" share to this round Chinese treat. It's one of those little family bonding moments. It isn't anything grand but I look forward to it every year. :)


Interestingly, my research reveals that this cake symbolizes family unity and perfection. Well it definitely does in our household. :) We may not be hardcore Chinese in terms of practicing traditions, but I love the fact that there are Chinese celebrations that still keeps our family strong. 


From research too, there are so many Mooncake Festival Legends. Historically, these Mooncakes were used to hold secret battle plans when they were being oppressed under the Mongolian rule. The Chinese had enough and planned a revolution against the Mongolians on the August Moon Festival on 1368. Mongolians didn't eat Mooncakes so the Chinese bakers were instructed to use these to send secret messages to all Chinese families.  The families were then told not to eat Mooncakes until the 15th of the 8th lunar moon and that's how the Mooncake Festival began. Isn't that pretty clever? :) 


Belated Happy Chinese Mooncake Festival! 



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PS. Mooncakes go well with tea :)
PS 2. We also won other food prizes from our parents' Mooncake Festival celebration! 

Yaaaay more food! :)


~It's the little sweet notes everyday that matter. :)~