CONDIMENT - Kitchen (Mis)Adventures

How To Make Homemade Chinese Five Spice Powder (五香粉)

Have you ever heard of Chinese Five Spice Powder for cooking? It’s a sweet but warm spice with a hint of licorice-like flavor. Add a bold and flavorful zing to any dish with this powder, such as crispy salt and pepper tofu, crispy Taiwanese-style popcorn mushrooms, or Chinese chive pies or pockets (韭菜盒子). You don’t … Read more

Red Bean Paste

Red bean paste is very commonly used in Chinese and Japanese pastries, from red bean pancakes to glutinous rice balls to dorayaki. It’s amazing, or should I say alarming, how much sugar and oil the commercial red bean paste is laden with, and that’s something I never really thought about until I made red bean paste for … Read more