Monday Spice Collection (Part 4)

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187939946987190646.post-41923637528220785732007-09-17T10:30:00.001+02:002008-12-09T14:31:47.088+02:00Monday Spice Collection (Part 4) - Five SpiceAfter all the <a href="http://www.burntmouth.com/search/label/Monday%20Spice%20Collection">savory spices </a>I ve made in my <a href="http://www.burntmouth.com/2007/08/wedding-ceremony-and-monday-spice.html">Monday Spice collection</a>, 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. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111099290913926530" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IbyrjeHfP0s/Ru5Fua6s7YI/AAAAAAAAAYs/fqHO83lISYA/s400/five_sipce2.JPG" border="0" /> 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) <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IbyrjeHfP0s/Ru5F8K6s7ZI/AAAAAAAAAY0/qfX71oGA9KE/s1600-h/five_spices.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5111099527137127826" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IbyrjeHfP0s/Ru5F8K6s7ZI/AAAAAAAAAY0/qfX71oGA9KE/s200/five_spices.JPG" border="0" /></a>spice ladder: **Prep time: 10 mins makes: as much as you want<ul><li>Star Anise (Badyan)</li><li>Fennel Seeds</li><li>Cloves</li><li>Chinese Cassia Bark *</li><li>Sichuan Black Peppercorns *</li></ul>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, <strike>too bad</strike> use white pepper. Chinese cassia bark can also be substituted for regular cinnamon. This was my very last entry :-( for <a href="http://www.burntmouth.com/2007/08/wedding-ceremony-and-monday-spice.html">Monday Spice Collection </a>event. Here are <a href="http://www.burntmouth.com/search/label/Monday%20Spice%20Collection">all four of them</a>. Next week comes promised Wedding Apron "Recipe". <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/187939946987190646-4192363752822078573?l=www.burntmouth.com'/></div>zlamushkahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12359856305294505035zlamushka@hotmail.com16