Comments on: How To Make Traditional Lotus Seed Mooncakes

By: Wes Radez

Wes Radez — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 15:16:43 +0000

In reply to Miriam. All purpose! ~Wes

By: Miriam

Miriam — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 15:03:21 +0000

Hi just wondering if you use all purpose flour or cake flour? Thank you!!

By: Wes Radez

Wes Radez — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 18:07:54 +0000

In reply to Ian. Wonderful, thanks for sharing your experience, Ian. Glad you ended up with a good result. ~Wes

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 09:54:44 +0000

Hello, I’m making jian dui (fried sesame balls) and used this recipe for lotus seed paste. For me it took two, not one, 5-oz bags of lotus seeds to make 2.5 cups. I wasn’t sure whether to go by weight or by volume, but ended up using the full 2.5 cups (10 oz). My paste never pulled away from the pan, and wasn’t as golden-brown as these photos show. It also had a noticeable legumey flavor and wasn’t very sweet, so I concluded that I should have gone with the 5 oz. To fix the ratio I just incorporated another batch of sugar and oil, using the same process as the first time. That worked fine and now it looks, tastes behaves like it should. Thanks!

Oh- my blender wouldn’t blend the boiled seeds (I’d have had to add a huge amount of water), so I smashed them with a mortar and pestle and pressed the paste through a wire mesh strainer. Took a few extra minutes but worked and gave a great result.

By: Wes Radez

Wes Radez — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 03:55:18 +0000

In reply to Lauri. I'm so glad to hear that, Lauri, and thanks for the tip! It sounds like you and your daughter really enjoyed the time together. ~Wes

By: Lauri

Lauri — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 22:18:40 +0000

Hi, Wes. Thank you for this recipe! I made them with my 10-year-old daughter, who is adopted from China, and we had a great time. They taste so much better than the ones we’ve purchased in the past.

A couple of notes about the lotus seeds…. I bought a 5 oz. bag from the Asian market, but I measured only about 1 1/4 cups of seeds. I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough, since you said 2 1/2 cups, but it worked okay. Also, I found on another site that you should break the soaked seeds open and remove the bitter green sprouts. I only found about 10 seeds that had sprouts, but that might be a good addition to your recipe. I know, another thing to do!

By: Wes Radez

Wes Radez — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 02:40:24 +0000

In reply to Ling. Hi Ling, I wish I could help, but I'm not sure of the weight conversions! ~Wes

By: Ling

Ling — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 07:15:24 +0000

Hi, I’m in the UK and want to try this recipe however I don’t quite get the cup measurements that you use in the US. Are you able to include weight measurements as I don’t want to get it wrong? Thanks!

By: Wes Radez

Wes Radez — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 04:09:42 +0000

In reply to Jude. That's great, Jude. Excited to hear you're giving it a shot, let me know how it goes! To answer your question, yes, the sharp tap should work from the get-go. Be persistent and it'll drop right out. There's enough oil in the mooncake wrapper that sticking won't be a problem. ~Wes

By: Jude

Jude — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 21:52:56 +0000

Wes, I’m white Canadian but have always loved mooncakes. I have everything ready to make them this week except for the moon cake mould which I can pick up this week.

I have a question about pressing the balls into the mould though. I’d imagine after using the mould a number of times, it would absorb some oil and not stick. But the first few times you form the moon cakes, don’t they stick? Do you find with a sharp tap, they always release easy and come out?

That’s my main concern so any answer will help me. Thank you!