Piggy Pastries and Mooncakes

Along the road to Hoi An, we came across the most delightful dessert: pig pastries. Shaped like cute lil pigs’ heads and filled with sweet mungbean paste, these pastries were by far one of my favorite things in Vietnam.

Why? Because I love anything that’s shaped like tiny food or tiny animals. So imagine a tiny pastry in the shape of a tiny animal. Double win. Love it.

The “Little Piggy Cake” was a complicated design made with simple ingredients. Just flour, butter, sugar, and mung beans produced a pastry that was solid, chewy, and not-to-sweet.

Kind of looks like they’re watching you 🐷🐷🐷

One thing I appreciate about Vietnamese pastries is that they’re never over-the-top sugary. The salt to sugar ratio is usually pretty balanced. After all, mung beans are one of the main ingredients.

The second pastry I tried (because I can’t eat just one!) was a mooncake. Initially I was drawn to the design, because the flower on top is beautiful. And I liked the weight and feel of it. As you can see, the pastry is a solid round pat that would fit nicely in your hand.

The ingredients were pretty intriguing. Besides the usual flour, butter, and sugar trio, there was also squash, ginger sweetmeat, salty lemon, seeds, and lạp xưởng. I cut into the pastry to check out the filling.

Ok so squash is kind of familiar. We eat pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving right? And guzzle Pumpkin Spice Lattes all fall (Basic PSL Lovers, unite!). Ginger is also familiar. I’m a fan of the Gin Gins Chewy Ginger Candy. But lạp xưởng? I had no idea, but I was definitely down to try it. Upon Googling I learned that lạp xưởng is actually a Chinese-style sausage. Which makes total sense because mooncakes are actually very Chinese.

Chinese sausage, which is typically made from pork, has been incorporated into a variety of Vietnamese dishes, from omelets to mains to pastries. Since the sausages are so salty, they’re used to balance other ingredients. So, in this pastry, the salty pork sausage and salty lemon work to balance the sweet ginger and squash. Cool, huh?

Fluffy and light, these are not. You know how sometimes French and Italian pastries feel like they’re half air? Not these! Both the pig and mooncake were compact meals on their own that could withstand being thrown around in my backpack. But I like that; these were toothsome morsels that give you something to chew on.