Spice Blend
Five Spice Blend
Overview
Five-spice blend is a spice mixture of five spices used predominantly in almost all branches of Chinese cuisine.
Ingredients
Fennel
Fennel Powder is a flavorful taste enhancer made by grinding fennel seeds to a fine powder. Fennel Powder also called as Saunf Powder is a handy spice used in the making of curries, biryani, gravies, etc and is one of the important Indian spices.
Cloves
Cloves are dried flower buds from the clove tree. They are a popular spice that people use in soups, stews, meats, sauces, and rice dishes. They also have many health benefits and is one of the important Indian spices.
Star Anis
Star anise is a spice made from the fruit of the Chinese evergreen tree Illicium verum. It’s named after the star-shaped pods from which the spice seeds are harvested and has a flavor that is reminiscent of licorice.
Sichuan Peppercorns
Sichuan peppercorn is a spice produced from the husks of seeds of two species of the prickly ash shrub. The pinkish-red husks around the seeds are used for the Sichuan peppercorn spice, while the inner black seed is discarded as it is too gritty and would be sand-like when eaten. Sichuan peppercorns can be used whole or ground into powder. The spice is one of the five ingredients that comprise five-spice blend.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon powder comes from the bark of tropical, evergreen trees. In order to harvest cinnamon, it’s peeled off of the inside of the bark of the tree. There are two main types of cinnamon: Ceylon and Cassia. The majority of the cinnamon you’ll find at the grocery store is Cassia. Cinnamon is one of the important Indian spices.
Instructions
- Toast whole spices individually
When whole spices are toasted they become very nutty. We should always toast the spices first and grind them later. Raw ground spices are very quick to burn so we should always toast spices whole and then grind them. And always focus on toasting one kind of a spice at a time. If we toast a mixture of spices then some of the spices will burn before the others are even close to be done. The quality of the spices used also matter alot with the flavour and aroma so you should prefer using authentic blended spices.
Place first spice in a dry cast iron skillet or stainless steel pan
Heat pan over low to medium heat
Use spatula or wooden spoon to gently stir spices to avoid burning and allow for even heating
Remove from heat and let cool completely
Repeat with additional spices
2. Grind Spices and Herbs
Grinding spices at home can extend their shelf life since they better retain the flavor when stored whole. Grinding spices at home also gives us more room for creativity since we can make our own customized freshly ground spice blends. Either we can ground our spices manually using a mortar and pestle, rasp grater or even a rolling pin or switch to automatic methods using an electric spice grinder, blender, food processor or coffee grinder. Before choosing your method, consider the materials we have on hand, the type and size of spices we’re working with, the amount of spices we need ground and our desired consistency.
The most common way of grinding spices manually is with a mortar and pestle
Add the desired amount of spices to the mortar, filling only 1/3 full of spices for best results
Hold the pestle with your dominant hand and the mortar with your opposite hand
Pound and swirl” the spices with firm pressure as you press spices against the bottom and sides of the mortar
Continue this pounding and crushing motion until the spices are ground to your desired texture
This method of crushing spices manually can be achieved similarly using a rolling pin or meat tenderizer mallet if you don’t have a mortar and pestle.
3. Storing Your Spice blend
To organize your spices and herbs in a way that they don’t dissapear into a corner and you forget that you even have them and rush out to but it over again, you should keep them in a place where you can see it. To keep all the spices fresh, tidy and visible use clear containers with airtight seals.