Soy Braised Collards With Five Spice Powder Recipes

SOY-BRAISED COLLARDS WITH FIVE-SPICE POWDER

Steps:

• Bring rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, five-spice powder, and 1/4 cup water to a boil in a large casserole or Dutch oven. Add the damp greens. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring once or twice, until the greens are very tender, about 15 minutes.
• Remove the cover and simmer until the greens are no longer soupy, 3 to 4 minutes. Adjust the seasoning, adding rice vinegar to taste. Serve immediately.

ALMOND AND SUGAR POWDER

Steps:

• Grind the almonds with half of the confectioners' sugar in your food processor, stopping to break up any caking as needed, until finely ground but not at all oily. Sift through a medium sieve. Grind the almonds that don't pass through the sieve with the remaining confectioners' sugar until reduced to a fine powder. Transfer all of the almond and sugar powder to a bowl, break up any caking with your fingertips, and mix thoroughly.

SOY SIMMERED COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Remove the white ribs from the centers of the collard leaves. Stack the leaves on top of each other and slice into 1-inch pieces. Thoroughly wash the greens (I soak them and continue to change the water until no dirt or sand remains). Set aside.
• Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour in the broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits. Stir in the soy sauce, pepper, garlic powder and salt. Bring to a low boil. Add the greens and reduce the heat to a very low simmer. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Stir in the cider vinegar and simmer an additional 15 minutes.
• Serve with hot pepper vinegar if desired.

FOUR-SPICE POWDER

Steps:

• In a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder, finely grind the cloves and black pepper together. Transfer to a bowl and combine with the nutmeg and ginger.

CRUNCHY BRAISED CHICKEN GIZZARD

Steps:

• Clean gizzards thoroughly, cut off tough tendon bits.
• Dry marinate with a little pepper.
• In a small sauce pan, heat the cooking oil on medium heat.
• Add ginger and garlic, stir fry till fragrant.
• Throw in the gizzards and increase heat to hot, stir fry till the gizzards just chnge color.
• Add in the 300 ml water, the five spice powder, the sweet soy sauce, and vinegar.
• Mix well.
• Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to a simmer and cook till the sauce reduces to about a third.
• Taste, adjust if necessary.
• Check that gizzards are tender yet crunchy.
• Serve hot, warm or cold with gizzards skewered with toothpicks.
• Note You can make your own Chinese Five Spice Powder by blending the following ground spices: 1 2/3 tbsp star anise 1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds 1 1/2 tsp cassia (in the USA cinnamon denotes both cinnamon and cassia which is native to China, professional bakers prefer cassia to cinnamon.) 1/2 tsp Sichuan pepper or black pepper 1/4 tsp cloves Stir-fried vegetables are enhanced by sprinkling about 1 tsp over them during cooking.
• Add a little salt, and you have a very good marinade for chicken, duck, pork and seafood.