Chinese 5 spice - Zambian style

Since coming back to Zambia, I have developed certain cravings (and no, I’m not pregnant!). This is because some things you just can’t get here or they are not as nice as back home or they are so expensive. I have been in mourning for cheese, good quality chocolate, mozzarella di bufala (*sigh*)Thai and Chinese food. My yearnings were only exacerbated after watching a programme about the Cantonese food traditions. I have really missed 5 spice powder which I used to use a lot back in the UK. Thanks to the aforementioned programme however, I was able to have a go at making my own. I couldn’t get all of the spices needed, but did my best with some biryani mix and my trusted sense of smell.
My powder isn’t really a powder, more like gravel as I had to pound my spices with a little pestle and mortar!
I used fennel seeds, star anise, cinnoman stick, some black peppercorns and cloves. I ground each spice up separately then combined them gradually until it smelled about how I thought it should smell!

go to my blog for a recipe using 5 spice So Eat