Duanwu Festival (aka Dragon Boat Festival)

Finally finally finally, the Memorial weekend will be here this weekend!  I am of course beyond excited to have some time off to rest and most importantly to celebrate me and my husband's 3th wedding anniversary.  One of my favorite Chinese holidays is also fall in May too.  Today, I am going to introduce this holiday to you and also the food/dessert we usually have for this special occassion.

Duanwu Festival, also known as Dragon Boat Festival and the Double Fifth, is a traditional and statutory holiday originating in China and associated with a number of East Asian and Southeast Asian societies. In Mandarin, it is known by the name Duānwǔ Jié; in Hong Kong and Macau, by the Cantonese name Tuen Ng Festival; in Hokkien-speaking areas, by the names Gō͘-go̍eh-cheh/Gō͘-ge̍h-choeh (五月節) and Gō͘-ji̍t-cheh/Gō͘-ji̍t-choeh (五日節). In 2008, it was recognised as a public holiday in mainland China for the first time since the 1940s. The festival has also long been celebrated in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. Equivalent and related festivals in Asia include the Kodomo no hi in Japan, Dano in Korea, and Tết Đoan Ngọ in Vietnam.
The festival occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar on which the Chinese calendar is based. This is the source of the alternative name of Double Fifth. In 2011, this fell on June 6. The focus of the celebrations includes eating the rice dumpling zongzi (Chinese: 粽子; pinyin: zòngzi), drinking realgar wine xionghuangjiu (Chinese: 雄黃酒; pinyin: Xiónghuángjiǔ), and racing dragon boats.

(Source from Wikipedia)

The typical Zongzi -
the savory one on left (the white one) and the sweet one of  right (the yellow one)

OK, enough history, let's talk about food.  Chinese tamales, aka Zongzi are the "official" food for celebrating this holiday.  My grandmother used to make her own back to the days when she was young.  There are savory and sweet tamales - the savory Zongzi usually contains Chinese preserved meat, dried scallope, dried mushroom and meat (usually pork) (pan fried with soy sauce before wrapping).  The sweet one usually made with red bean and dip in white sugar or syrup.  My grandmom only made the savory one at home because the sweet one would take her ever more hours to prepare.  The sweet one also known as alkaline water (kee-chang) tamaples.  Why?  Because there are only two ingredients are used for making this tamale. Glutinous rice and alkaline water. If you want your dumpling to be smooth and springy, you need to be willing to live dangerously for one day a year and add a pinch of borac acid (also called “peng seh“).  I have been living in the states for closed to 12 years; unfortunately, I have never seen this tamale sold at any restaurant or store yet.  I wonder if it is because the borac acid is banned to use in food here.  Anyway, if you are lucky enough to find all the ingrients and would like to make your own, here is the recipe I found online.

Guess what, Starbucks in China just came out a set of Zongzi as their seasonal item this May (see pictures above).  They are a kind of fusion Zonzi mixed with western ingridents and Chinese concept.  Very creative and very pretty dessert, Bravo Starbucks!

(All pictures were found from Google Image)

Autumn, Mook Cakes and Lanterns (Part II)

So what is Mooncake?

(Imagine from Google)

Most mooncakes consist of a thin, tender skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling, and may contain one or more whole salted egg yolks in its center to symbolise the full moon. Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony", as well as the name of the bakery and the filling inside. Imprints of the moon, the Chang'e woman on the moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the moon) may surround the characters for additional decoration. 

Mooncakes are considered a delicacy; production is labor-intensive and few people make them at home. Hence, most prefer to buy them from Chinese bakery or Chinese restaurant. The price of mooncakes usually ranges from US$10 to US$50 for a box of four.  I still remember when I first came here, my mom didn't know that we could buy mooncakes from the Chinese bakery or stores in the States.  In the first few years, she shipped us few boxes of mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival each year until we told her we could get it from here (of course, she was all disappointed because she could not think of anything else to send us.).

*Source from Wikipedia.

Traditional Fillings of Mooncakes -
Traditional fillings include: lotus seed paste, red bean paste, jujube paste, five kernel ( A filling consisting of 5 types of nuts and seeds, coarsely chopped, is held together with maltose syrup), Chinese ham, and tea influenced filling (such as green tea filling, oolong tea filling, etc). 

From left, 5 types of nuts and seeds; center, red bean paste, right lotus seed paste with salted yolk
(Imagine from Google)

Green tea paste mooncakes with salted yolk
(Imagine from Slanted)

My favorite one is the plain lotus seed paste with no yolk.  I like the perfect sweetness, the soft texture and balance with the crust.

Outside the Box Fillings of Mooncakes - 
Taro, pineapple and durian (I am not sure about this flavor, even my friend told me they are yummy!).  Except for these fruity flavors, Starbucks have also created their own version of moon cake - coffee flavored mooncakes.  If you like ice cream, how about Haagen-Dazs ice cream mooncakes?!  Don't like ice cream, how about chocolate mooncakes?

Starbucks coffee flavored mooncake
(Imagine from Dobbybrain.com)

My friend's durian snowskin mooncakes

Flaky taro mooncakes
(Imagine from Yochana's Cake Delight)

Ice cream mooncakes
(Imagine from Google)

Cute chocolate Hello Kitty moonakes
(Imagine from Real Lao Zha Bor Speaks)

Crusts of Mooncakes -

• Chewy (this is NOT snowskin): This crust has a reddish-brown tone and glossy sheen. It is the most common type of crust used on Cantonese-style mooncakes. It is also the most commonly seen type of mooncake in North America and many western countries.

• Flaky: Flaky crusts are most indicative of Suzhou- and Taiwan-style mooncakes. The dough is made by rolling together alternating layers of oily dough and flour that has been stir-fried in oil. This crust has a texture similar to puff pastry.

(Imagine from Aancoo)

• Tender: Mooncakes from certain provinces of China are often made to be tender rather than flaky or chewy. The texture of this type of mooncake crust is similar to the shortcrust pastry used in Western pie crusts or tart shells.

(Imagine from QQ Love in the Kitchen)

• Snowskin:  If you had mochi before, snowskin curst tastes like the skin of mochi.  Chewy but not greasy.  A lot of younger generations enjoy snowskin rather than the traditional chewy one because the snowskin tastes refreshing and sound "healthier".

(Imagine from Simple Fabulicious)

Except for different fillings and crusts, there are many regional variants of the mooncake (Beijing, Cantonese, Taiwan, Chaoshan, Ningbo, Suzhou, Yunnan)

Autumn, Moon Cakes and Lanterns (Part I)

I could not believe that I have been living in the States for 11 years.  I miss my family every once in a while, but those traditional Chinese festivals make me miss them more than usual.  One of my favorite traditional Chinese festivals is the "Mid-Autumn Festival" (Moon Festival).  Here is a short summary about Mid-Autumn Festival from Wikipedia:

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together.

Pomelos (Imagine from Google)

Star fruits (Imagine from Google)

Traditional style mook cakes (Imagine from Google)

Water Caltrops,  (Imagine  from Cheap Ethnic Eatz)

 

Imagine from Cheap Ethnic Eatz

Imagine from Google

When I was younger, I didn't feel so excited about this festival.  Until several years ago, I was driving alone in the dark and saw the FULL and BIG moon in front of me; then I realized how much I miss my family, how many Mid-Autumn Festival family dinner I have absented since I came to the States, and the great old time we had with my grandmom, my parents, my uncles and aunts and all my cousins.

We usually gathered at my grandmom's house for a family dinner first.  Then, we headed to the rooftop and hung out there.  The kids (me, my sister and my cousins) would carry the brightly lit paper lanterns (sometimes battery operated one) and chasing each other (just do what kids usually do=p).  The adults would talk and eat the traditional Chinese food for Mid-Autumn Festival, such as steamed taro with sugar or soy sauce, star fruits, pomelos, a bull head look alike thingy (English name:  Water Caltrop, find out what they are and how they taste like from here) and of course Moon Cake.  Those memory seems so far away from me, but so close to my heart.  

In the next post:  I will tell you:

what is mook cake? 
How do they taste like? 
What kind of flavors they have? 
What is Mrs. G's favorite? 

So stay tuned.