Homemade All-Purpose Five-Spice Crumble

This all-purpose five-spice powder, stir-fried by hand, blends numbing, fragrant, spicy, salty, and sweet flavors harmoniously. Its aroma is rich yet not overpowering, and its taste is complex and layered, pairing perfectly with everything. This flavor is reminiscent of what Cai Lan, one of Hong Kong's four great talents, renowned food critic, and columnist, said: "Life cannot be too perfect"—it's not simply sweet, nor purely fragrant, but a complex blend of numbing, fragrant, spicy, and sweet flavors, just like our lives, which always have surprises and regrets, intense moments and mundane ones. It's precisely this unpretentious richness that allows it to be combined with chili powder to make five-spice rolls, mixed with steamed meat powder to make fragrant steamed pork, added to salt to stir-fry marinated meat, and even used to make crispy salt and pepper shrimp. A simple spoonful adds a unique smoky aroma to everyday flavors.

Ingredients

Four bay leaves
Two star anise
10 grams of fennel seeds
15g Sichuan peppercorn shells
salt to taste
Chili shells (as needed)
white sesame seeds

Steps

First, wash the spices such as Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, fennel seeds, and bay leaves, and drain them. Heat the pot over the lowest heat, add the Sichuan peppercorns and star anise, and stir-fry until dry and fragrant. Remove from the pot and let cool.
Next, use the residual heat in the pan to stir-fry the fennel seeds and bay leaves until fragrant, then set them aside. If using raw white sesame seeds, stir-fry them over low heat until they turn slightly yellow and fragrant; if using cooked sesame seeds, use them directly.
Grind all the stir-fried spices into a fine powder, then store in a sealed jar.
Steamed Pork with Rice Flour: Steamed pork with rice flour is made by grinding five-spice powder with roasted rice into a powder. The aroma of the pork is wrapped in the rich aroma of the spices, and every bite is full of the mellow five-spice flavor. It is fragrant but not greasy.
Steamed Buns: Steamed buns made with five-spice powder and chili powder. The aroma of pepper and seasoning hits your nose as soon as you bite into them. They are so delicious that you can't stop eating them.
Special method for marinating meat by stir-frying salt: First, pour the salt into a dry pan and stir-fry over low heat. Once you can smell the heat of the salt, immediately turn off the heat. Then, add all the spices and stir-fry them using the residual heat of the salt to release their aroma. This method will prevent the salt from burning and will allow the aroma of the spices to fully infuse into the salt.
Salt and Pepper Shrimp: Salt and pepper shrimp made with five-spice powder and chili powder, with a charred aroma that is coated with the fragrance of pepper and seasonings. One bite and the aroma bursts forth, so delicious that you can't stop licking your fingers.