Thursday, August 2, 2012

Mooncake workshop @ Lai Po Heen, Mandarin Oriental KL (mini snowskin with durian paste)

I was very excited when I was given the opportunity to attend a mooncake workshop at Lai Po Heen, Mandarin Oriental KL. I love eating mooncakes (no doubt about it) hence it would be good for me to learn how to make them too so that I could eat them all year round. You can read about all 15 mooncakes from Mandarin Oriental KL here.



Since it was just me in the class, you could say I was lucky to have gotten a one-on-one private lesson with head dim sum chef, Wu Chee Hong who very patiently taught me all the steps of making their famous mini snowskin mooncake with durian paste.

For those wanting to attempt to make snowskin mooncakes at home, I can assure you that this could be done at home, however you need to be very quick when shaping the durian paste as well as dough as the durian paste is delicate and will melt easily with the heat from your hands.  Lai Po Heen uses D24 durian. The instructions given here are for making mini mooncakes with a 4cm diameter, however if your mould is bigger, you need to scale up the measurements when dividing the durian paste or dough.   

I got to take home the mini snowskin durian mooncakes that I made and both my parents who love durian commented that it was really good. The most surprising thing was that even Baby D loved it. The durian paste is really smooth. Thanks to Chef Wu for the invaluable lesson ;)

With Chef Wu and Chef Ricky of Lai Po Heen


Lai Po Heen's custom mooncake mould


Mooncakes galore



Mini snow skin with durian paste
Recipe courtesy of Mandarin Oriental KL
Makes 30 (4cm diameter mini mooncakes)

For durian paste
(A)
110g wheat flour
110g corn flour
75g custard powder
38g milk powder
225g icing sugar

(B)
5 chicken eggs
300g butter, softened at room temperature
300g UHT whipping cream
600g Fresh durian (D24)

1. Mix ingredients (A) together, then slowly add in chicken eggs, butter and UHT whipping cream.


After step (1), you will get the mixture on the left and after steaming, you will get the one on the right


2. Steam mixture for 15 minutes and keep in the refridgerator for 1 hour to firm up.

3. Add fresh durian into mixture and blend until smooth. Keep into refridgerator again for 1 hour to firm up.

4. Cut into small portion, approx 50g, then shape into balls. You have to work quickly as the mixture is very delicate and melts easily with the heat from your hands.



5. Keep in the refridgerator again until ready for use.


For the snowskin
500g Icing sugar
450g rice flour
150g vegetable shortening
530g water

1.Mix the icing sugar, rice flour and vegetable shortening well.

2. Slowly add in water and knead to a soft, pliable dough.

3. Using your hands, roll the dough into a long cylindrical shape. Cut into small portion, approx 50g. Flatten dough and then wrap dough around durian paste balls.




Video on how to shape the mini snowskin mooncake


4. Cover with some rice flour and then roll slightly into cylindrical shape then press the dough wrapped with durian paste into mooncake mould.



Ready to be knocked out


5. To remove mooncake from mould, knock the mould against the table. Serve chilled.



Yay! Me and my first mini snowskin mooncake with durian paste ;)


All the ones I made


Chef Wu and me :)


Durian snowskin mooncake is the yellow one on the left.


The mini snowskin mooncake with durian paste is available for purchase at Lai Po Heen for RM16++ per piece. To read about ALL the mooncakes from Mandarin Oriental KL, please click here.

Full set of photos can be viewed on my Facebook page here. 


Location: Lai Po Heen, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-2179 8885

*This recipe/blogpost was featured on Asian Food Channel's Facebook page on 2 August 2012. 

37 comments:

  1. Wow, that's amazing! So u will be making it often at home?

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    Replies
    1. Maybe not durian one, since Hubby doesn't like them. But good that I learnt the methods already, I'm gonna try pandan one first.

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  2. Durian snowskin is my favourite!! I can eat a box full :) Next time I come to KL, I learn from you, can? :p - Mich

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    Replies
    1. Hehe sure! We can try making them together (though I cannot promise 100% success rate) ;P

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  3. Snowskin? No, thanks. I prefer the traditional authentic ones...and people want it thin, I don't mind if a bit thick as I love the skin!

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    Replies
    1. Hehehe you have really different tastes from me when it comes to mooncake, I like the baked ones with thin skin.

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  4. Wei...how come u remarked off 'so that I could eat them all year round'?...hahaha :P

    Must have been a great learning experience for u...hehe =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha shy la... if I say I eat all year round, ppl might call me "fatty" LOL.

      Yes, definitely a great experience for me, plus chef was so patient to teach me.

      Delete
  5. ooo, this means in future we can request various flavored mooncakes from you. i'd like a snowskin avocado paste mooncake to start with! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehheh I think avocado mooncake might be even more expensive than musang king mooncake!

      Delete
  6. Why i didn't know about this one... :( if you ask me to go, i would go! i love mooncakes! although i can't eat much of them

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    Replies
    1. Sorry Michelle, this workshop was by special invitation from the hotel. I would let you know if there are any other cooking classes.

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  7. I love their pandan flavour mini snow skin, if can add a bit of egg yolk even better! hahaha. :D

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    Replies
    1. Hehe I also love their pandan flavour snow skin.. very nice hor. Maybe we can give some ideas to the chef... then next yr he can make with egg yolk ;P

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  8. Hi Sumo, I am your latest follower! I randomly came across your fabulous blog, and I love it! This mooncake workshop looks like a lot of fun! Thank you so much for sharing! Can't wait to check out more of your posts! Carmen

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  9. I've always wondered what's inside! I was hoping not so much fat, but I now see all of that butter and cream!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This recipe is to make 30 mooncakes, so overall it's still not too bad. Just like eating cakes I guess.

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  10. Yen is a very smart "student" o! Fast learner!

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    Replies
    1. Hehe Jessie, thanks. But I think you should say that the teacher is good, that's why I can learn so quickly ;D

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  11. Well done babe.. u are my sifu! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha! Not yet sifu... must try few times at home first.

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  12. You are so lucky to attend this! Wish that I can be there learning all these moon cake making techniques.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, I'm really grateful. I love eating mooncakes so it's great to see how it's made. Gonna try my hands at it soon.

      Delete
  13. i also love the mooncakes even though i'm a malay...:)

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  14. Hi! I came across your blog and tried out this recipe just ytd.. But I can't seem to make a mooncake shape smooth as the fillings is too soft and when I roll the dough is just too spongy to be smoothen. Moreover, the fillings cannot be completely wrap into the dough and there seems to be cracks seen at the whole thing.. What is it that I have did wrongly? Hope u will reply me soon! I am so curious!! Thx!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jaime, did you put the filling into the refridgerator after u have formed it? It does melt very fast from the heat of your hands, so you need to work very quickly with it. I am not too sure why you cannot wrap the whole filling with the dough, maybe recheck the measurements - you have to roll out the dough til it's quite thin, so that it can cover up the whole filling. Once it is wrapped up, then jus gently smoothen out the creases and it can be placed in the mould. (Did u watch the video?)

      Delete
  15. Hi, thanks for sharing your Snowskin mooncake recipe. And your mooncakes look gorgeous. Please advise what is "rice flour" as indicated in recipe?
    Is it same as Fried Glutinous Rice Flour?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi, thanks for sharing your Snowskin mooncake recipe. And your mooncakes look gorgeous. Please advise what is "rice flour" as indicated in recipe?
    Is it same as Fried Glutinous Rice Flour?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ok, thank you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi, I see most small mooncake moulds with 4cm diameter are usually for 50g mooncakes. This recipe called for 50g filling 50g skin. Is this for a 100g mooncake?

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    Replies
    1. I was also wondering? But the mould looks like a 50gm mould.

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  19. Absolutely bad.. My snowskin turns out so watery. 530g of water is too much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sorry to hear it did not turn out well, the recipe was given by the hotel chef.

      Delete
  20. What is wheat flour? Is it the same as Plain flour?

    ReplyDelete

Please drop any comments or questions you may have here. Thank you so much for reading!

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