To add this hearty Asian flavor to any dish in my opinion you need one of all of those three main ingredients: hoisin sauce, dark soy sauce and Chinese 5 spices powder.
Chinese 5 spices powder is a robust sweet and spicy seasoning used in most of the Chinese dishes. you can totally buy a store-bought version of this blend that you can find in grocery stores under Asian food section but in my opinion the flavor of the homemade one is incomparable.
The deep taste of roasting your whole ingredients at home add a much intense flavor to this blend. It is a perfectly balanced combination of the 5 main flavors of any Asian cuisine: Sweet, sour, bitter, salty and spicy.
Those flavors are captured by those 5 aromas: cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise and Sichuan peppercorn.
Roasting those aromas than grinding them into powder is the best option for a fresh intense taste.
I usually roast and grind a small batch every month or two so I preserve the freshness of those spices. You can modify the recipe depending on how much you cook Asian food.
I usually cook from 4 to 6 Asian dishes per month so this small jar recipe is just enough for that!
I know Sichuan Peppercorn maybe challenging to find for some of you for that you can replace it with black pepper and maybe add a little bit of chili but it won’t be exactly the same. this peppercorn is not actually a peppercorn it is a dried berry of couple of small Chinese trees known as “prickly ash”.
You can replace it with black pepper but this peppercorn has an incredibly unique taste, it has a slightly floral lemony overtones with a spicy flavor that will bring a numb more than heat feeling.
I will mention a good blend to substitute this authentic flavor as much as we can if you cannot find it, but if you can it is a game changer guys you should make the effort to get it!
If you are currently live in UAE specifically Dubai, you can DM me on Instagram or send me a direct email and I will be more than happy to recommend for you great Asian grocery stores where you can find those peppercorns and much more authentic Asian goodies in very reasonable prices.
Those spices are good for any of your Asian dishes from marinade, meat rubs, glazing to stir-fries sauces.
It is even amazing with some non-Asian twist I will share with YOU more about those later.
NOW LET GET’S STARTED ALREADY!
Homemade 5 spices Chinese blend:
Chinese dishes. you can totally buy a store-bought version of this
blend that you can find in grocery stores under Asian food section but in my
opinion the flavor of the homemade one is incomparable.
Ingredients
- 1 whole star anise
- 1 stick cinnamon broke into pieces
- 12 whole cloves
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp whole Sichuan peppercorn
Instructions
- Step 01: preheat a pan over medium-high heat with no oil at all, roast anise stars, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves until you start to smell the fragrance, stirring occasionally (4-5min)
- Then remove from pan and set aside, and do the same with fennel seeds and Sichuan peppercorn for around 2-3 min until fragrance.
- Step 02: let it cool down completely than grind it in a coffee grinder or any grinder you have.
- Store in a small glass jar and enjoy in your favorite Asian dishes.
Notes
- For a good substitution for the Sichuan peppercorn: nothing will replace the Sichuan unique floral lemony taste but this blend is actually the closet thing, just roast instead of the Sichuan peppercorn 2 tsp of whole black pepper with the fennel seeds. and when you want to grind all the spices add ½ tsp chili + ½ tsp ginger to the mix. In a simpler way:
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn = 2 tsp black pepper+1/2 tsp ginger powder + ½ tsp chili pepper - Pepper lend for meat marinade: for each 2 kg of meat or chicken you need approx. 1 tbsp of the Chinese blend.