Method

• To make filling, steam salted egg yolks for 10-15 minutes until cooked. Set aside.
• Steam diced yam for 30 minutes until soft, then mash until smooth, removing any hard fibrous bits that cannot be mashed.
• Mix in sugar and wheat starch
• Heat up cooking oil in a frying pan and fry shallots until fragrant
• Discard shallots and add yam paste in. Fry until the yam paste is dry. Set aside to cool
• Wrap 60g of yam paste around one salted egg yolk and shape into a round ball. Repeat until all the yam paste and salted egg yolks are used up. Set aside
• To make flaky pastry, prepare water dough by rubbing shortening into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add sugar, water and vinegar, then knead until a smooth dough is formed. Let dough rest for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the oil dough by rubbing shortening into flour until a smooth dough is formed. Let dough rest for 30 minutes.
• To roll out pastry, divide both water and oil doughs into half. Wrap the oil dough inside the water dough
• On a floured surface, roll dough out into a long rectangle. Starting from the shorter side, roll dough into a log like a swiss roll
• Turn dough 90 degrees and repeat step 10.
• Cut each log into 5 equal pieces.
• With the spiral side down, roll out the dough from the center into a flat disc big enough to cover the filling
• Wrap rolled-out dough around the filling and pinch the bottom edges together to seal
• Use a ladle to lower the mooncake into a pot of hot oil (~180^oC) and deep fry until golden brown.
• Drain excess oil on paper towel and serve warm!