Chinese five spice gravel

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, cinnamon 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! I have to say, it worked out quite well and was used for this following dish.
Five Spice Soy
I love soy pieces and they are so cheap in Zambia, they also keep forever. In past I remember making the mistake of storing my dry soy pieces in an airtight container that also contained a bag of cloves. The soy pieces tasted pretty awful but showed just how effective they are at absorbing flavours!
My thought was then, that if I soak the soy pieces to rehydrate them, in a mixture of water, spices and soy sauce, they should taste pretty good.

• So in a small bowl I emptied enough soy for 2 people (about to big handfuls)
  


• Add a mug of cold water
  


• A generous dash of soy sauce
  


• A heaped teaspoon of my 5 spice gravel
  


• I also added a small teaspoon of honey.
  
  
• After soaking for abou 1 hour, I added the pieces to stir fried vegetables and cooked for about 10 minutes.
  


• Serve with rice, mmmm!