MAKE CHINESE FIVE SPICE POWDER!

Introduction

Have you played with Chinese Five Spice powder?!

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

“Five-spice powder is a spice mixture of five or more spices used primarily in Chinese cuisine but also used in other Asian and Arabic cookery.

Five-spice powder is used for cocktails as well.“

 

5 Spice is so darn beautiful, and so aromatic, it’s kinda to die for, spice wise…  That’s why it’s super neat to whip up some of your own Chinese five spice, fresh and wonderful.   If you’re going to attempt steamed Chinese buns, you’ll certainly want some of this.  I made a faux-pork vegan jackfruit version for a party last year and the reviews were somewhat polarized.  The flavor was great, but the jackfruit texture was a little weird, and threw some of us off.  I’m not done dancing with those jackfruit buns yet though, it’s a work in progress…  🙂  What did made the flavor super, was this Chinese 5 Spice right here.

I sourced everything I needed here from the Indian grocer.  If you’re a vegan / vegetarian and you have access to an Indian grocer, go!  Don’t miss out!  Here in Frisco, Texas, US where we’re at, we have a few, but India Bazaar is closest and has great selection, so it’s my fave.

The only thing that wasn’t from IB, were the cloves, which came from the tiny expensive bottle at the normal grocer that I generally try to avoid, but that’s another post…  You can see in the pic, all the spices I needed, cost less than $8 (sans cloves) but a 1.75 ounce bottle of McCormick 5 spice costs $5.98 at Walmart.  I estimate we could make around 12 bottles worth with what we bought, so spend about the same, and have sweet little gifts for your friends at your next dinner party, AND fresh spices!  Finally, here’s the 5 Spice lowdown!

Ingredients

• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 1 tsp star anise
• 1 tsp szechuan peppercorns

Tools

I use a mortal and pestle, but you can use any kind of grinder that you like!

Instructions

1.   Crush up the star anise a bit so it can measure and toast up easily.  They really are little 3d stars, and in toasting them, not much surface area would be hit otherwise.  Crush up the cinnamon a bit to measure as well.  Toast everything but the cinnamon for a few minutes, in a dry skillet.  You’re just about done when the peppercorns get very aromatic.  (You’ll notice in my haste both preparing for a party, and trying to get some shots for you guys, my cinnamon also wound up in the skillet!  -gasp!-  It got toasted as well, and didn’t really seem to do any harm!  But don’t toast yours, I’ve never seen a recipe that calls for that, unless you really have a hankering to taste some toasted cinnamon, then sure, float that boat!)
2. Take your toasted spices, and your cinnamon, drop them in whatever you’re using to pulverize this stuff, and have at it.
3. Place the freshly magicked 5 Spice in an airtight container to store, and hopefully, use some right away in a wonderful dish!  And with that, here are some…

Dish Ideas!

Five Spice Noodles with Broccoli – Haven’t had this one yet but it’s on my list!

Peppery Tofu with Chinese Five Spice and Black Bean Sauce – You know it looks fabulous…

Chinese Jackfruit Buns – I used this recipe at the party.

There are lots more, just do a quick search on the Googs and you’ll find all kinds of things!

I hope you take the time to give working with your own fresh spices a chance, it comes with a lot of self satisfaction, and is awesome for the flavor of all the hard work you put in the kitchen, next level stuff here, so come on!  🙂

Much love to you all, see you next time!