| Lek-tau-phong | |
| Alternate Name: | Ludoupong, Taiwan Mung Bean Pastry[1] |
| Country: | Taiwan |
| Served: | Cold |
| Main Ingredient: | flour, sugar, pork, lard, mung bean |
Le̍k-tāu-phòng or Lǜdòu pèng is a traditional Taiwanese mooncake. The filling is made of sweet mung bean paste stuffed with lard and shallots and baked, and sometimes a little pork is added. In recent years, due to the emphasis on health, many operators have also introduced versions that do not contain pork, lard and other ingredients, and are purely filled with mung bean puree.[2]
Traditional Taiwanese mooncakes are large in size (as big as the palm of your hand). Since the early 1980s, the industry in Fengyuan District, Taichung, known as the "Pastry Capital" of Taiwan, has invented small mooncakes that have no lard residue and are filled with mung bean puree filling. The portion is half the size of traditional mooncakes.[3]
The Lek-tau-phong emerged in the 1940s. During the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan, Japanese confectionery culture moved into Taiwan. In order to cater to Japanese tastes, Fengyuan's local pastry manufacturers learned Japanese wagashi technology, used sweeter fillings, and reduced the size of pastries, promoting the popularity of Japanese confectionery. Fengyuan's local cake shops also developed a small mooncake with mung bean paste as the filling, called Gourd Dun Cake (葫蘆墩餅), which is the predecessor of Lek-tau-phong[4] 。.