After all the savory spices I ve made in my Monday Spice collection, it is a time to spice up our sweet tooth for a change - a traditional Chinese Five Spice powder.
Most of you might assume that a five spice powder consists of five ingredients. Not necessarily true. Five spice, in traditional Chinese "yin and yang" (food) philosophy is lot more than a random choice fo five different spices. It is, foremost, a unique well-balanced combination of five basic cooking flavors: sweet, salty, savory (pungent), bitter and sour.
This highly fragrant spice mix is achieved by combining an equal amount of some traditional Chinese spices, such as Sichuan Black Peppercorns (typical for their "numbing" aftereffect), Star Anise (also known as Badyan), Cassia Bark (Chinese cinnamon), Fennel Seeds and Cloves.
Often, there are other "sweet" spices added to the spice mixture (ginger, nutmeg...), known as "Seven Spice" mix or other. You should experiment with all of them, depending on the ingredient that will be spiced up. Different spices are used to make Bengali type of Five Spice, which is a lot different, therefore known more as Panch Phoron.
Chinese Five-Spice is mainly used in flavoring eggs or poultry, but also fatty pork dishes. Nowadays, lots of pie baking recipes call for a pinch of Five Spice, too. I often make gingerbread or pumpernikel pies with it.
My sister loves sweet and she enjoys baking a lot, so I accomodated the recipe to suit her taste (less "spicy" - black peppercorns, more "mild" - cardamom). She´s loving it.
TRADITIONAL CHINESE FIVE SPICE:
(wu xiang fen) 
spice ladder: **
Prep time: 10 mins
makes: as much as you want
- Star Anise (Badyan)
- Fennel Seeds
- Cloves
- Chinese Cassia Bark *
- Sichuan Black Peppercorns *
Take equal quantity of all mentioned spices (1 star anise makes about 1 teaspoon powder) and grind to a fine powder. Store in airtight container to prevent escape of the aroma.
I used 1 tablespoon of each, but for the reason mentioned above, I used only 1/2 tablespoon of Sichuan peppercorns and added 1/2 tablespoon of cardamom.
*If you dont have Sichuan black peppercorns, too bad use white pepper. Chinese cassia bark can also be substituted for regular cinnamon.
This was my very last entry :-( for Monday Spice Collection event. Here are all four of them. Next week comes promised Wedding Apron "Recipe".
16 kommentarer:
Thanks so much for clarifying that five-spice has five tastes rather than literally five spices. I am learning so much from you, Zlamushka! Have not tried Chinese five-spice powder yet, but I am going to look for it.
Hi Nupur, so glad to have you here :) .... I am happy I have that impact on you, thanx. I should say the same about you. How is your new job? hope not too tiring. Starting my new one, soon, so I am researching freeze friendly curries... Any ideas ?
Visiting this blog for the first time. You have wonderful recipes here. I often experiment with variety of Indian spices. Seeing wide array of spice blends, I'm tempted tp try many new spice blends!
thanks for the info...very detailed yet concise...
thanks for that lovely recipe.i always wondered what this 5 spice powder was.will try this
Kumudha:
Welcome to my blog. I noticed you like vegan spicy dishes. That is very nice, looks like we will have a lot in common. Please, do try some of my masalas and let me know what you thought of them.
Rajita:
Thanx, it was fun learnign about it myself.
Madhuli:
THe truth is that I seldomly use this spice mixture myself. Need to research more veggie recipes with this one. If you know any, let me know !
This is something new and intersting Zlam..I had been using chinese sauces but not heard abt chinese powders..that too 5 spiced!!what a wonderful concoction!!
Those jalepeno pickles down there made my cheek hurt!!:)..ahh still..
Hi B,
thanx a lot. Yup, the Five Spice has lot mor to it than just five ingredients....
I will post a recipe for the pickled jalapeno soon, so you can try them for real one day. Not so spicy, though...
Oh, I love Five spice Chinese , always have it in my pantry.It's better make at home than store bought, thanks for the way to do it!:))
Do you know we have Indian Five spice too? It's called "Panch Phodan", a Bengali mix of five spices to season the dishes.
It contains equal amount of Onion seeds, Mustard,Fennel seeds,Fenugreek seeds, and Cumin seeds.You add just a tsp of this mix to hot oil until they splutter and add to cooked dish! Fun, huh?:D
Hi Asha,
thanx a lot for the recipe for Panch Phoron. I worte it as a Bengali Five Spice, but weasnt sure what goes in it. Thanx again, then. Learning a lot from you guys....
Your posts are so informative.Thanks for sharing.
Thanx TBC, it was just as new for me. I like researching food stuff I make. Makes me so knowledgable at the dinner table, hahaha :)
Five Spice powder to me was really unknown territory. Thanks to you I know what it is now. I just wanted to add, that your blog really has so much to teach in terms of international cuisine. I am really lovin it!!
Hi Shella,
thanx a lot. I love to hear that what I write might be educational to somebody.. It really motivates a lot :-)
Thanks for the useful info Zlam.
Each recipe has an info with it. Lovely.
You seem to have lots of spice collections. Good :)
Hi Seec,
I really do. I dont even know what everything is in there... BUT had fun of making all of them.
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