Foot and Fire

For this beef soup, use beef with bones which carry the marrow. This is a no-sweat beef soup. The trick is to quickly boil the beef and remove the froths and sediments forming above the water. Put more water and bring to boil until the meat is tender (This is the waiting part especially if there is no pressure cooker in the house). While boiling, put the Chinese Five Spice (Please see earlier post ). I have Cinnamon sticks and star anise in the house, so aside from the powder, I put some of it as I love the woody and earthy aroma of these two spices.  If the meat is tender, adjust taste with pepper and salt. When done with the taste, put the trimmed native pechay  and let vegetable cook covered for one to two minutes . Serve piping hot.   

This packet is a gift from a good friend who now works in Beijing, China. It says "Ginger Poweder" but from what I can understand from the photo, it is more like what we came to know as Chinese Five Spice. I wonder why they did not name it so. I googled and found these suggestion on how to make your DIY spice combination. This is perfect for beef stews and beef soups and stocks. Here are the varied stuff I found and brace yourself as I will post the ingredients which were posted at the back of this luckily in English: It is not five only. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon fennel seed, toasted and ground 1 teaspoon ground star anise 1 teaspoon szechuan peppercorns, toasted and ground *** 1 tsp. ground Szechwan pepper 1 tsp. ground star anise 1-1/4 tsp. ground fennel seeds 1/2 tsp. ground cloves 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. ground white pepper *** Anise, Cinnamon, Star Anise, Cloves, Ginger *** 2 tablespoons ground star anise 2 ta...

Chicken: One whole chicken, cleaned (rub salt if desired) Pu erh tea steeped in boiling water, drained Star Anise Pinches of Chinese five-spice In a soup pan, put the whole chicken. Pour tea, just enough to cover the chicken. Put the Star Anise and Chinese Five spice. Bring to boil for 15 minutes, then heat in medium heat for 1 hour and 45 mins. Remove the chicken and place in the serving dish. Reserve stock for gravy. Gravy: 3 cups of stock starch, dissolved in water salt soy sauce black pepper Chicken bouillon (if desired) Strain two to three cups of chicken-tea stock to remove solids. Let boil in a sauce pan, add starch and adjust according to desired consistency. Adjust taste with salt, soy sauce and black pepper. Vegetables: olive oil onion, cubed carrots, cubed potato, cubed Bits and pieces of Mushroom in can, drained raisins or pickles Saute onion in olive oil, add carrots and potato. let cook and add mushrooms and raisins/pickles. Put a little liquid by using the stock. Serve t...