Savory Mooncakes (鲜肉月饼)

The perfect pastry to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. These savory mooncakes are filled with a juicy plant-based meat center and a flaky pastry crust. 🥮

Mooncakes are often eaten around the Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival), a holiday celebrated on the Sept 15th of the lunar calendar. The holiday is a time for families to gather and give thanks.

Unlike the more common sweet mooncakes, these savory mooncakes are made with a flaky crust and juicy meat center. These mooncakes are signature to the region of Shanghai, something our mom and grandparents grew up eating. These past few years our mom has bought them from a local Shanghainese stall in New York, however all of their options are not vegan-friendly, so we decided to create our own. Although incomparable to the famous stalls in Shanghai, we think these come pretty close to the authentic taste.

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Serving Size: 8 - 10 mooncakes

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 25 mins

Total Time: 1 hour 25 mins

Description

The perfect pastry to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. These savory mooncakes are filled with a juicy plant-based meat center and a flaky pastry crust. 🥮

Ingredients:

Water oil dough

• 110g AP Flour

• 15g Shortening

• 15g Vegetable Oil

• 55g Hot Water (40°C-60°C)

Pastry dough

• 60g AP Flour

• 30g Shortening

Meat Filling

• 200g plant-based meat

• 1 tsp sugar

• 2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tbsp vegetarian Oyster Sauce

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine

• 1 tbsp salt

• 2 tbsp grated or crushed ginger

• 1/2 cup chopped chives (optional)

• 10g water

• 1/2 tsp white pepper

Instructions:

1. Mix all Wet Oil Dough ingredients together until a firm dough forms. Leave covered in the freezer.

2. Mix all dry dough ingredients until smooth. Leave covered in the freezer.

3. While the dough is resting, mix in all of the meat-filling ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix until the filling looks pasty and holds together well.

4. Take the Wet Oil Dough out of the freezer and knead till the dough can be stretched out without breaking (window-pane test). Then wrap and set aside.

5. Divide the meat-filling into 25-30g balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place into the fridge.

6. Remove the dry dough from the freezer and set it aside while you flatten out the Wet Oil Dough just large enough to put the dry dough in the middle. Wrap the dry dough into the wet oil dough like a large bun. Turn the dough over, so the folded side is facing down on the board, and press the dough with your palm.

7. Using a rolling pin, press down the dough and roll it into a large rectangle. Length-wise, fold the dough into 3rds (see video below). Press down and roll out again into a large rectangle. Then roll length-wise into a cylinder, and make tight rolls to avoid getting any air in the roll.

8. Once rolled into a cylinder, flatten the ends of the roll and divide it into 8 equal pieces, and cover.

9. Preheat oven to 380F

10. Now we're ready to start creating the mooncakes. Take a piece of dough and bring the ends together to create a ball shape. With the smooth side down, press the dough flat and then roll the dough out into a circle, approx 4-inches in diameter.

11. Place the meat filling inside the center of the dough, slowly bring all the sides together, and slowly rotate the ball till the dough gathers up the top and closes. Pinch off any excess dough.

12. Place the mooncakes on a lined baking tray, gently press the balls down a little, and spray with water. Bake for 10 mins or till lightly brown, then remove and place onto a non-stick pan and cook for an additional 5 mins on each side till golden brown.

13. Allow the cakes to cool a bit before biting in. Enjoy!

*These are best eaten immediately but can be refrigerated for 3-4 days and reheated in the oven or on the stove.