Cinsky Mooncake festival - 月饼

Uz niekolko dni trva vyznamny cinsky festival – Mooncake festival. Cely festival vyvrcholi tuto nedelu, ked v cinskych domcekoch budu svietit cervene lampasiky, rodiny sa stretnu pokope a budu jest kolaciky plnene roznymi plnkami.

Momentalne dostat v kazdom obchode tieto kolaciky (Mooncakes) – od vymyslu sveta, tvarov, naplni a baleni. Ked som kolaciky prvy krat ochutnala, nebola som nimi nadsena. Casto maju divne plnky, teda pre nas divne plnky. Napriklad uvarene slane kacacie vajce, rozpucene fazule, sladky zemiak. Ale kedze toto bude uz moj treti mooncake festival, akosi som si zvykla na tieto kolaciky, mam aj svoje oblubene naplne – cokoladove, kokosove a nepohrdnem ani vajickovym. Dokonca sa chystam nakupit par kolacikov a poslat ich domov, nech aj na Slovensku maju radost z tohto festivalu.

V nedelu sa chystam pozriet jeden cinsky templik, pozriet jeho vyzdobu, mozno sa budu konat aj nejake budhisticke obrady.

Na zaver pripajam trosku historie a jeden recept (pre tych ktory by si chceli kolacik doma urobit)

Z historie:
Podla cinskeho kalendara sa sviatok oslavuje na 15. den 8. lunarneho mesiaca. Ako vznikol, tak to nikto netusi, tu ponukam par variantov:

This festival is also known as the Moon Cake Festival because a special kind of sweet cake (yueh ping) prepared in the shape of the moon and filled with sesame seeds, ground lotus seeds and duck eggs is served as a traditional Chung Chiu delicacy.

Nobody actually knows when the custom of eating moon cake of celebrate the Moon Festival began, but one relief traces its origin to the 14th century. At the time, China was in revolt against the Mongols. Chu Yuen-chang, and his senior deputy, Liu Po-wen, discussed battle plan and developes a secret moon cake strategy to take a certain walled city held by the Mongol enemy. Liu dressed up as a Taoist priest and entered the besieged city bearing moon cake. He distributed these to the city's populace.

When the time for the year's Chung Chiu festival arrived, people opened their cakes and found hidden messages advising them to coordinate their uprising with the troops outside. Thus, the emperor-to-be ingeniously took the city and his throne. Moon cake of course, became even more famous. Whether this sweet Chinese version of ancient Europe's "Trojan Horse" story is true, no one really known.

The moon plays a significant part of this festival.

First lady on the moon: It is generally conceded that Neil Armstrong , the American astronaut, was the first man on moon ( he made that historic landing in 1969). But that's not necessarily the truth to Chinese, who believe that the first people on the moon was a beautiful woman who lived during the Hsia dynasty (2205-1766BC)

This somewhat complicated moon-landing story goes like this: A woman , Chang-O, was married to the great General Hou-Yi of the Imperial Guard. General Hou was a skilled archer. One day, at the behest of the emperor, he shot down eight of nine suns that had mysteriously appeared in the heaven that morning. His marksmanship was richly rewarded by the emperor and he became very famous.

However, the people feared that these suns would appear again to torture them and dry up the planet, so they prayed to the Goddess of Heaven (Wang Mu) to make General Hou immortal so that he could always defend the emperor, his progeny and the country. Their wish was granted and General Hou was given a Pill of Immortality.

Another version of this story notes that Chang-O, the wife of the Divine Archer, shot down nine of ten suns plaguing the world and received the Herb of Immortality as a reward.

Whoever the hero was, Chang-O grabbed the pill (or the herb) and fled to the moon. In some versions it is uncertain whether she ever actually got there, because Chinese operas always portray her as still dancing-flying toward the moon.

When Chang-O reached the moon, she found a tree under which there was a friendly hare. Because the air on the moon is cold, she began coughing and the Immortality Pill came out of her throat. She thought it would be good to pound the pill into small pieces and scatter them on Earth so that everyone could be immortal. So she ordered the hare to pound the pill, built a palace for herself and remained on the moon.

This helpful hare is referred to in Chinese mythology as the Jade Hare. Because of his and Chang-O's legendary importance, you will see - stamped on every mooncake, every mooncake box, and every Moon Cake Festival poster - images of Chang-O and sometimes the Jade Hare.

The old man on the moon: There is a saying in Chinese that marriages are made in heaven and prepared on the moon.

The man who does the preparing is the old man of the moon (Yueh Lao Yeh). This old man, it is said, keep as a record book with all the names of newborn babies. He is the one heavenly person who knows everyone's future partners, and nobody can fight the decisions written down in his book.

He is one reason why the moon is so important in Chinese mythology and especially at the time of the Moon Festival. Everybody including children, hikes up high mountains or hills or onto open beached to view the moon in the hope that he will grant their wishes.

To celebrate this sighting of the moon, red plastic lanterns wrought in traditional styles and embellished with traditional motifs are prepared for the occasion. The lantern are made in such traditional shapes are rabbits, goldfish, carps, butterflies, lobsters and star-shaped fruits.

In Chinese mythology, the butterfly is the symbols of longevity and the lobster the symbols or mirth. Star-shaped fruit is the seasonal fruit in the autumn, and the crap is an old symbol of the Emperor, personifying strength, courage, wisdow and, of course, power.


A tu je recept:

INGREDIENTS:
Filling:
1 pound red azuki beans
water
3/4 cup lard or oil
1-3/4 cups sugar
Water-Shortening Dough:
2 cups flour
5 tablespoons lard
10 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Flaky Dough:
1 cup flour
5 tablespoons lard
red food coloring for design

PREPARATION:

Filling Instructions: Soak red beans in water to cover 2 hours. Drain and discard the water. Cover with 8 cups fresh water and bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat 1-1/2 hours or until skins open. Strain the beans and discard the skins.
Place the strained beans in several layers of cheesecloth and squeeze out any excess water.Place in a saucepan with the lard or oil and the sugar. Cook, stirring continuously, until almost all the moisture has evaporated. Let cool.

Dough Instructions: You will need 2 cups of filling for the mooncakes. Divide this into 20 portions and shape into balls.

Mix ingredients for the water-shortening dough and the flaky dough separately until smooth. Divide each dough into 20 equal portions.

Wrap one portion of flaky dough inside each portion of water-shortening dough. Roll out each piece of dough, then fold in thirds to form three layers. Roll out again, and once more fold in thirds to form three layers.

Flatten each piece of dough with the palm of your hand to form a 3" circle. Place one portion of filling in the center. Gather the edges to enclose the filling and pinch to seal. Place the filled packet in the mold, gently pressing to fit. Invert and remove the mold.

Dilute red food coloring with water and pour onto a damp paper towel on a plate. Take some food coloring onto the cookie-design stamp, then press on top of the mooncake.Repeat process for remaining mooncakes.

Arrange mooncakes on a baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool before serving.