The Daughters of Shandong follows teenager Hai, her mother, and sisters as they flee Mao’s communist regime towards Taiwan after World War II. The journey brings with it poverty and hardship. They eat the same food – poor food with little nourishment – day after day. While in a refugee camp, they are delighted to be given special treats for a Chinese holiday.
Quote:
On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Di and I received our mooncakes, which were filled with red bean. There was no egg yolk, but we didn’t mind.
The Plan:
My sister-in-law is from China – Shanghai, not Shandong. She and my brother often cook for various Chinese holidays so I turned to them for a mooncake recipe. I wanted to make a “real” mooncake and not a Westernized version. Red bean paste and no eggs! I kept planning and planning and checking different ways to make or get the various ingredients. Red bean paste. Lye water. Then there are the molds. A very specific product for a very specific use I may never do again. Also. Money. So I did what every lazy person does and turned to Google. The authenticity of my selected recipes diluted further and further until I chose a recipe unrecognizable as a mooncake, except for the pretty designs. I chose these Sweet Raspberry Cheesecake Mooncakes (thank you Bora). Then I figured – well, if I’m making non-Chinese mooncakes (eh…) then I can probably make lots of other yummy “mooncakes” in the future – so I’ll buy the molds.
Ooh. ooh. ooh. Because it was Friday night of a long weekend, I decided to make General Tso’s Chicken (thanks, Nagi) to keep with the Chinese theme.
Preparation:
I prepared the cheesecake part during the day. It is supposed to be completely frozen when making the mooncakes. Well, I am not patient and wanted to have completed before starting dinner – I’m not a big fan of making several dinner dishes and a dessert simultaneously. I have my limits, people. This was my fatal flaw. It really did need to be frozen. It was a very messy process, and I’m lucky to have gotten anything out of it. It was fun and they didn’t look awful (well, a few of them).
I made the dinner part of the dinner quite quickly. Once again, my laziness intruded. I ended up with non-crispy chicken because I am extremely impatient with breading and cooking batches, but it was delicous!
My take:
The mooncakes were tasty and so pretty but I’d like to make one closer to those in the book – and to what my brother and sister-in-law make. Red bean mooncakes are in my future. I’ve bought the molds, and I’m damn-well going to get use out of them. Oooo – also might use for cookies and other moldy (not fungus mold) things.
This is about mooncakes, but I have to mention the chicken again. It really was good. All four of us gave it 5/5 stars.
Lesson of the day:
The cakes were good. I will make the real deal when the holiday rolls around in the fall. Or maybe I’ll just head to Chinatown and get some there! We are getting that I’m lazy – right?
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