Five spice uses?

[kengr]

Due to getting off at the wrong stop, I wound up passing by our favorite Chinese Market (Hong Phat) on the way to get together with Fay for her birthady (a meal at Changs, and then hitting Winco for groceries).

Since she was running late, I stopped and bought a few things. Only stuff that Winco doesn't carry, for obvious reasons. While looking for thew Japanese Kit-Kats, I stumbled across Something I'd heard about, but never tried. Five Spice powder.

Any suggestions as to things to do with it (I'll go looking for recipes later, but I figured I'd ask first)

Like what things can I add it too to improve themn? Or what simple things can I make using it?

Blitzkrieg! (Tanks in advance :-)

Comments

[warriorsavant]

Amazing what variants on flavors Japanese have for some of our basic snack foods, like Kit-Kats, and they also actually taste like real flavors, no.t artificial ones. BTW, I'm rather fond of wasabi peas - not a snack food we have, dried, very spicy.

[kengr]

Wasabi peas are actually easy to find around here. I can even buy them at normal grocery stores.

I'm still hoping to score some wasabi Kit-Kats withpout having to order them online.

[warriorsavant]

If you find some, let us know how they taste. I can’t decide if very, very good, or very, very bad. I doubt any middle ground.

[siliconshaman]

Oh! I use that all the time. Over here it's called Chinese Five Spice powder. Best is Beef with ginger & pineapple and noodles. You add the five spice (and the ginger) where you're searing the diced beef. You don't need too much, a 1/4 teaspoon should be enough if you're cooking for two. It's an easy cook.

Ingredients:
250g Diced beef
100g Mushrooms
1 can pineapple
2 sheets of dried egg noodles
1 apple (any sort)

Seasonings:
1/4 teaspoon five spice powder
generous amount of dried ginger (or minced fresh ginger if you have) sprinkle of dried coriander leaves
lemon grass, fresh lemon juice or lime juice salt & pepper to taste. drizzle of Soy sauce

Method: Add oil to pan (I prefer olive oil but it doesn't matter that much) and heat. Add diced beef while the oil is cold still, adding the dry seasonings inc ginger & soy sauce, and stirring so the beef is coated before it starts frying. Once the beef is lightly fried, add the sliced mushrooms and continue to fry until they are lightly done.

Open the can of pineapple and pour off the juice into the pan with the beef and set that to simmer, adding the lemon or lime juice with the lemon grass. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Dice the pineapple (unless it is already) and add to the pan. Top with off with enough water to cover the ingredients and add a little extra soy sauce or a stock cube to darken it. Add diced apple.

Cover pan, and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Add noodles, and bring back to low boil/simmer and recover pan. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring as necessary to stop noodles from sticking. Once almost all the liquid has been absorbed it's done.

Modifications, you can also add Worcestershire sauce and/or marmite (tiny bit) to add depth and flavour to beef. You can also add other Chinese veggies as you like, it's quite good with water chestnuts and bean sprouts.

[acelightning73]

Five-spicy powder contains a high proportion of star anise, which gives a strong licorice-like flavor and aroma to whatever you use it in. It's often used in braised or stewed dishes where flavors have time to blend during cooking. It doesn't turn up often in stir-fries, because it's really better for long cooking times. It might work in steamed dishes. I'll look through my CHinese cookbooks and see what I can find. I don't use it, because I associate the licorice flavor with a dentist I went to as a child - all his topical medications were anise-flavored, and I loathe it.

[chanter1944]

I've heard of five spice powder being used as a popcorn seasoning before. That might have been ysabetwordsmith linking to something, but whoever it was, the idea is an excellent one.

[acelightning73]

All the recipes I could find that called for five-spice powder were for red-cooked or braised or stewed meat; usually pork ("meat" in Chinese is almost always pork), sometimes beef, and once in a while duck.