A healthy twist - Snowy mooncake with Chinese Yam -no baking, no dairy, minimal oil and sugar, easy!

Tired of the sugary oily store-bought mooncake? Ever consider making the healthier versions of mooncake for yourself that is not only delicious but also good for you? In this video, I'm going to show you how to make simple snowy mooncake with ingredients that are also Chinese herbs. No baking involved, super easy and there's minimum oil and sugar and non-dairy. Plus, you can also use these little desserts for other occasions because they are not your typical traditional mooncakes. Everyone, welcome back to Chinese Herbal Pantry. My name is Shirley. I'm a Chinese medicine practitioner and a pharmacist from Australia. Currently, I'm based in London. Welcome to my first video in London and I also want to wish everyone happy mid-autumn festivals or mooncake festivals. The last two months, I have been really busy teaching my course and finally, I have time and I see all these Asian grocery shopping full of beautiful mooncake. I love them especially when I was younger but as I grow older and I find that I no longer enjoy it as much, the sugar and the oil make me feel just really uncomfortable. So, I thought, okay, so how about making my own one or at least a healthier version? So, this is what it is different from today's video. So, there you go. So, the white color is the Chinese yam with the glutinous rice flour and then the green, I infuse it with a bit of matcha and it smells really nice from the Chinese yam. Depending on your Chinese yam, some people really like it. Some people are not quite into that flavor and if it's too strong for you, then that's where the matcha powder comes in. Of course, I add a bit of sugar and a bit of honey but not too much at all. You don't even need to beat it. So, Chinese yam, generally speaking, is a qi tonic. So, it will boost your qi and we use it a lot in herbal soup, herbal tea, and now I put it in the mooncake. The filling that we're going to do today is two different types. So, one is the black sesame seeds. Black sesame seeds in traditional Chinese medicine are also very, very healthy. We use it for, we say, to tonify the TCM kidney to nourish our blood and then we also believe that will help with our hair. And with all the recent studies, the little tiny black sesame do contain a lot of nutrients and minerals that can help with the health of our hair. And the second ingredient, which is the mung bean. Mung bean is often used during summertime in Asia. A lot of desserts or herbal drinks or herbal soup contain mung beans because it helps to clear heat and it also helps to clear, we say, to detox our body. So, all right, without me talking too much, now let's get started. Start by washing the Chinese yam thoroughly and then peel the skin. It is recommended to wear gloves, especially if you are handling fresh Chinese yam for the first time. It can be quite slimy and some people may experience skin reaction. Cut the Chinese yam into smaller pieces, then steam them for about 30 minutes or until they become soft and easily mashable. While the Chinese yam steam, measure about 110 to 120 gram of glutinous rice flour. You can find this flour in most Asian groceries. Transfer the glutinous rice flour to a non-stick frying pan and stir-fry it over low heat for approximately 10 minutes. The flour should turn slightly yellowish and you will start to smell the rice flavor. This step is crucial because there is no baking involved, so the rice flours need to be cooked. Otherwise, you will need to steam the mooncakes before eating. Set aside a small portion of the stir-fried flour for later use as dusting powder. By this time, your Chinese yam should be ready. Transfer the cooked Chinese yam to a blender and blend it into a smooth consistency. Add 30 gram of sugar, 30 gram of honey, blend until well incorporated. Once the mixture is smooth, transfer it to a kneading mat or a large flat plate. Let it cool slightly. Gradually add the glutinous rice flour to the mixture and incorporate it using a spatula. The mixture may still be hot and quite sticky at this point. Continue adding the flour and mixing it until the dough is no longer excessively sticky or too warm to handle. You then can knead the dough with your hands. The amount of glutinous rice flour needed may vary depending on the moisture content of your Chinese yam. Typically, it's about three parts of Chinese yam to one part of glutinous rice flour. If you like matcha flavor, you can add matcha powder to the Chinese yam dough. Keep kneading until the dough no longer sticks to your fingers. Seal the dough to prevent it from drying out and let it rest for about 30 minutes. Wash the mung beans and soak in water for about two hours until they puff up. Steam the soaked split mung beans for about 30 minutes or until they are easily mashable. Transfer the cooked mung beans to a blender. Add 10 gram of sugar, 10 to 20 mils of honey, 75 mils of your choice of plant milk. Blend until smooth. For a slightly textured filling, you can use a fork instead of blending to your desired consistency. Seal the mung bean paste and refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes or firm it up. Stir-fry the black sesame seeds in a non-stick pan over low heat. Keep stirring until you notice a toasting aroma and hear faint popping sounds. Transfer the toasted black sesame seeds to a blender. Add 10 to 20 gram of sugar, 20 mils of honey, 60 to 75 of plant milk. Blend until smooth. Black sesame seeds can be quite challenging to blend, so you may need to push them back down into the blender for even blending for a couple of times. Check the consistency so that it is easier to roll into a small ball later. If needed, add a little extra honey or oil for desired consistency. Seal the black sesame paste and refrigerate it to firm it up. Take the dough and divide it into a small portion, about 30 gram each. This will be used to wrap the filling. Then, divide the fillings into small 20 gram portions and roll them into small little balls. Take one portion of the dough and flatten it into a small disc using your hands. It should be thin enough to wrap around the filling, but not too thin to tear easily. Place a small ball of chosen filling in the center of the dough disc. Carefully wrap the dough around the filling, ensuring that it is completely enclosed. Then, you roll it between your palms to create a small rounded ball. If you spot any cracks, don't worry. Just use your finger or your palm to smooth them out. Imperfections add character, right? Mine are definitely not perfect at all as you can see in the pictures. Then, place the filled dough ball into the mooncake mold and gently press it to shape your mooncake. Be firm but gentle, making sure all the edges are well defined. If you have no mold, don't worry at all. You don't have to go and buy it. You can use the back of a kitchen knife to shape the dough ball into a charming mini cake or flower-shaped mini cake as you can see and I'll show you how to do it. But I will admit I'm not a handmade expert. As you can see also my slightly uneven creations, but I'm sure you will do a much better job. Let your creativity shine! Start with the mung bean. As I mentioned before, mung bean is good for the clear heat to detox and then work well with the Chinese yam. So on days that is very hot or those who are now living in southern hemisphere, the weather is slowly warming up and of course in the tropical country. So let's taste. I like how the taste combines together. So that's a mung bean. So now let's try the black sesame. Obviously the black sesame, the taste is a lot more intense. But I really like after I toasted it, the toasting taste are coming up. So as we go into winter, we need to start to take more black color food and black sesame is one of good one to try and can incorporate into your drink like black sesame latte and stuff. I'm going to teach you next time. Okay that's all for today and hope you enjoyed the video and also enjoyed the mooncake. If you haven't subscribed to my channel, make sure you subscribe it and give it a thumbs up. Share with your friends if you want to give this recipe a try. You can go to your girlfriend's place and do it together. It's going to be fun. Don't forget if you don't have mooncake mold, it's okay too. You can just make it into this shape. You can eat it in any other occasion. It doesn't have to be mooncake. Save this video for next year and happy mid-autumn festivals. Bye. See you next time. Bye.