Sunday night was Chicken Fried Rice Night in our house, which is code for Mummy’s Not Cooking! My husband makes the best fried rice in the world, so I only add it to our menu plan when I know he is going to be around to make it. And one of the key ingredients to his famous fried rice is 5 spice powder. Now, I have to admit that I don’t often use 5 spice in my cooking, so I didn’t notice when we ran out…….Google to the rescue! I looked up a recipe for 5 spice powder, and guess what…..It really does contain only 5 spices…..plus salt and pepper. It’s so easy to make, and even if, like me, you don’t have star anise in your cupboard, you will find that this recipe turns out remarkably like what you buy at the store. Next time I’ll add the star anise, but even without it, this recipe worked well. I chose to grind everything together in my Mortar and Pestle because I only had whole fennel seeds, not ground. Then I just popped it into a snap-lock bag and put it in the pantry.
Chinese 5 Spice Powder
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp. ground Szechwan pepper
- 1 tsp. ground star anise
- 1-1/4 tsp. ground fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
Preparation: