SuZhou-style mooncake with meat filling 榨菜鲜肉月饼

【SuZhou-style mooncake with meat filling】
by MaomaoMom

Mooncake is a Chinese traditional dessert for celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. The full moon symbolizes harmony and reunion of the family. There are two major styles of mooncakes: Cantonese- and Suzhou-style. This recipe is SuZhou-style, known for its light, flaky wrap and delicious meat filling. This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Sept. 19.

Prepare time: 1 hour
Cook time: 20 minutes
Level: Medium
Serves: 12 servings

Ingredients:

Puff pastry:
1) 1 cup unsifted all purpose flour (160g), 4 tbsp lard (60g);
2) 4 tbsp water (60 g);
3) ½ cup unsifted cake & pastry flour (74g), 3 tbsp corn oil (42g).

Meat filling:
4) 150g extra lean ground pork;
5) Half package 35g Chinese preserved vegetable diced;
6) 1 tbsp finely chopped green onion, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/3 tsp freshly minced ginger, 1/6 tsp chicken broth mix , 1.5 tbsp corn starch, 1 tbsp light soy sauce , 1/3 tsp sugar, 1/6 tsp white pepper powder, 2 tsp sesame oil, 1.5 tbsp cold water;
Others:
7) Parchment paper and baking sheet.

Directions:

Dough:
1: Place flour in Ingredient 1) in a container and add diced lard (Picture 1). Work lard into flour using your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture becomes crumbly (Picture 2). Add Ingredient 2) water and combine them with a fork. Transfer to a floured surface and knead a few times until form smooth dough (Picture 2). Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Oil paste:
2: Combine all ingredients of Ingredient 3) in a small container (Picture 3). Mix well with a spoon (Picture 6), then cover and set aside.

Meat filling:

3: Combine all ingredients of Ingredient 4) to 6) in a bowl (Picture 5). Stir in one direction with a pair of chopsticks for 3 minutes, until the mixture is sticky. Set aside.
Puff pastry:
4: On floured surface, knead the dough a couple of times and then roll out into an oval about 30 cm long and smooth on oil paste (Picture 6). Fold the dough twice: fold the bottom third up and the top third down (Picture 7). Turn 90 degree and roll out into a 4 mm thick rectangle (Picture 8). Again, fold the bottom third up and the top third down. Chill for 15 minutes in fridge if dough becomes too soft.

5: Finally roll the dough out into 3 mm thick rectangle. Fold from bottom to top to form a slender roll (Pictures 11-12). Cut 12 equation portions (Pictures 13).

Mooncake:
6: Press down each dough, push in four corners and roll out into a 10 cm circle. Place 1 tbsp meat filling on the center (Picture 14). Carefully work the dough up to cover the filling and seal on top (Picture 15). Place it upside down on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Repeat for the remaining 11 portions.
7: Preheat oven to 400F/205C, bake moon cakes at 400F/205C for 20 minutes, cool before serving.

More moon cakes:

Cantonese-style Mooncakes 广式月饼	【绿茶绿豆椪】	【Puff pastry cake with egg custard filling奶黄酥饼】
【Puff pastry mooncake with nuts filling】-【苏式椒盐月饼】	【紫薯广式月饼】	【绿豆椪】
【豆沙黑芝麻馅广式月饼】	【酥皮鲜肉月饼】	绿茶豆沙冰皮月饼

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