The Mid-Autumn Festival is traditionally a time when Chinese families get together and celebrate the season by snacking on moon cakes. For members of Shanghai's foreign community who may be far from their families and unfamiliar with this distinctively Chinese holiday, the Mid-Autumn Festival can be a time to get better acquainted with traditional Chinese culture. The holiday also offers numerous opportunities to forge new relationships.
One such opportunity came Friday at the Mid-Autumn Festival and Moon Cake Making Networking Event, organized by the FC Club (Fortune Connection Club). The event was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel Shanghai Hong Quan and chefs from the hotel were on hand to instruct both expats and Chinese participants in the art of moon cake making.
Founded in 2002, the FC Club is one of China's largest and oldest English-speaking networking organizations. Over the years, the club's reach has extended across Asia and today its 200,000 active members can be found in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Singapore.
In Shanghai, the organization has around 50,000 active members. Its regularly scheduled activities and social networking events routinely draw individuals looking to make personal and professional connections.
Nearly a dozen people took part in the club's moon cake making activity Friday. For most of the participants, the event marked their first attempt at crafting the traditional Chinese confections.
The Mid-Autumn Festival fell on September 8 this year, the earliest Mid-Autumn Festival since 1976. With warmer temperatures lingering across southern China, chefs offered instruction on making snow skin moon cakes, which are lighter, sweeter and less greasy when compared with many other types of traditional moon cakes.
The ingredients used to make a snow skin moon cake's skin include oil, milk, icing sugar, glutinous rice flour, rice flour and wheat starch. The filling is made with red beans and chestnuts. To get started, mix the oil and milk and then stir in the remaining ingredients. Steam the dough, roll it into the shape of a log and then break into evenly sized pieces.
Next, prepare the filling by mashing the ingredients into a paste. Knead the paste into evenly sized balls. Take the dough balls and flatten them into small circles. Place the filling inside the circles and fold the edges around the filling. Place each dough-filled ball into a moon cake mold to give it shape. Remove the cake from the moon cake mold and cool it on the counter or in the refrigerator.
Countless variations can be made on this simple process. For example, one can use chocolate or matcha powder to make the skin. Honey, fruit and other sweet ingredients can also be used in the filling.
Speaking about the recent event organized by the FC Club, one participant, Yang Zhiwei, said, "I used to make baked moon cakes myself, but this was the first time I made snow skin moon cakes. It was a special experience to make moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival and with the chefs' help."
One such opportunity came Friday at the Mid-Autumn Festival and Moon Cake Making Networking Event, organized by the FC Club (Fortune Connection Club). The event was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel Shanghai Hong Quan and chefs from the hotel were on hand to instruct both expats and Chinese participants in the art of moon cake making.
Founded in 2002, the FC Club is one of China's largest and oldest English-speaking networking organizations. Over the years, the club's reach has extended across Asia and today its 200,000 active members can be found in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Singapore.
In Shanghai, the organization has around 50,000 active members. Its regularly scheduled activities and social networking events routinely draw individuals looking to make personal and professional connections.
Nearly a dozen people took part in the club's moon cake making activity Friday. For most of the participants, the event marked their first attempt at crafting the traditional Chinese confections.
The Mid-Autumn Festival fell on September 8 this year, the earliest Mid-Autumn Festival since 1976. With warmer temperatures lingering across southern China, chefs offered instruction on making snow skin moon cakes, which are lighter, sweeter and less greasy when compared with many other types of traditional moon cakes.
The ingredients used to make a snow skin moon cake's skin include oil, milk, icing sugar, glutinous rice flour, rice flour and wheat starch. The filling is made with red beans and chestnuts. To get started, mix the oil and milk and then stir in the remaining ingredients. Steam the dough, roll it into the shape of a log and then break into evenly sized pieces.
Next, prepare the filling by mashing the ingredients into a paste. Knead the paste into evenly sized balls. Take the dough balls and flatten them into small circles. Place the filling inside the circles and fold the edges around the filling. Place each dough-filled ball into a moon cake mold to give it shape. Remove the cake from the moon cake mold and cool it on the counter or in the refrigerator.
Countless variations can be made on this simple process. For example, one can use chocolate or matcha powder to make the skin. Honey, fruit and other sweet ingredients can also be used in the filling.
Speaking about the recent event organized by the FC Club, one participant, Yang Zhiwei, said, "I used to make baked moon cakes myself, but this was the first time I made snow skin moon cakes. It was a special experience to make moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival and with the chefs' help."
Participants make snow skin moon cakes at a networking event organized by the FC Club Friday.
Snow skin moon cakes made at the networking event
Photos: Courtesy of FC Club
