Typical
mooncakes are round pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 3 – 4 cm
thick. A rich thick filling usually made from red bean or lotus seed paste is
surrounded by a thin (2 – 3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck
eggs. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by tea. Today, it
is customary for businessmen and families to present them to their clients or
relatives as presents.
Traditional moon cake.
In
the past or even now the moon cake (bánh
Trung Thu) is always a sweet dream for many kids in Vietnam. Remember, how
much we desired to have a moon cake in a pig’s shape together with mid-autumn
lantern and small, as toys, colorful exotic animals made from flour.
For
certain reason the moon cake has been considered more as a gift, an exchange
for business opportunities, for connections rather than a nicely sweet gift to
friends, to loved ones or to children.
Mid
autumn festival used to be a children’s feast, to celebrate the full moon
together with fictional characters from the Moon but now it seems more for the
adults to do their business things.
Never
forget to give a luxury gift box with 4 different-flavor cakes to the boss, to
the business partners, to teachers of our children or to those people that we’d
love to express our appreciation… the only thing the “appreciation” or the
“respect” in many cases we should understand between the lines!
Moon
cake seems no longer a cake, it’s like a gift that circulates among a circle of
people without the end.
Moon
cake are so various, different fillings, different shape (square, round, pig’s
shape…), baked cake (bánh nướng),
snow-skin cake (bánh dẻo), jelly moon
cake or ice-cream moon cake.
About
the moon cake’s fillings – it could be a big topic because it’s so rich! There
is one thing that I just learnt – the syrup in making of the moon cake should
be prepared year ago.
Mordern mooncake with more eye-catching look and new kinds of fillings.
We
have a cake with “ten ingredients” fillings (thập
cẩm), starting from Chinese sausage, cashew nut, pumpkin seeds, lotus
seeds, water melon seeds, sesame, sweet winter melon, shreds of lime outer
skin, pork meat floss or roasted chicken floss or expensive sharp fin…and
salted egg york in the center.
More
simple we have green mung bean fillings, or green tea or lotus seeds paste or
coconut with watermelon seeds or taro paste…with or without salted egg york.
Today
the moon cake is getting much more expensive, becomes a luxury gift item, the
lantern is no longer made from red glass paper, lightened by small candles as
in the old days, instead of that, the plastic one, made-in-China, with battery
lamp, and the small colorful exotic animals seemed gone forever. Some moon
cakes can be covered with gold dust or filled with “the best (ingredients) from
the mountain, the best from the sea” as we call “sơn hào hải vị” in Vietnamese.
Moon
cake filling is not just in traditional recipe. Some baker simplifies its
ingredients to just one flavor and choose “modern” ingredients loved by the
young such as: chocolate, Japanese matcha, red bean, cheese… The shape of moon
cake also varies to more creative ones instead of traditional round such as
small fish, bunny and flower. However, regardless the rapid change in shape or
taste, moon cake still play role as a special way for Vietnamese people to
express their caring for their loved ones in the autumn in general or mid-autum
festival in detail.
By Hanoi Times