Immediately after developing LunaCafe Chinese Ten-Spice, I started imagining all the ways I could use it. After all, I had ½ cup of spice blend and only 6 months of optimal storage time.
I thought about adding it to my favorite chicken wing marinade and was actually just about to do that when a recipe in Susan Feniger’s excellent cookbook, Susan Feniger’s Street Food: Irresistibly Crispy, Creamy, Crunchy, Spicy, Sticky, Sweet Recipes, caught my eye. What a stellar book; I could eat every page!
Titled Five-Spice Marinade, Chef Feniger’s recipe includes lemongrass, palm sugar, oil, rice wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, and the five spices typically associated with Chinese Five-Spice (clove, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, and black peppercorn).
So taking that as a starting point, I ran to the kitchen and started building a sauce. The result is sublime.
P.S. Make the marinade, and jump to the amazing Chinese Ten-Spice Chicken Wings recipe.
Ten-Spice Marinade & Stir-Fry Sauce
Inspired by Susan Feniger’s Five-Spice Marinade (which you can find in her cookbook), I tweaked the original formula to accommodate two pounds of chicken wings (or other meat). My version adds gingerroot, fish sauce, and LunaCafe Chinese Ten-Spice–for one of the most sublime marinades I’ve ever tasted.
Note To turn this marinade into a stir-fry sauce, add ¼ cup chicken stock.
Note For a simple noodle stir-fry for two, with 1 pound cooked noodles: Use 2 tablespoons oil in the wok and 2 sliced garlic cloves for the aromatics, 3-4 tablespoons of this sauce after stir-frying the noodles, and 2 tablespoons sliced green onion to finish.
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1 stalk lemongrass (½ cup minced)
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2 tablespoons peeled, minced gingerroot
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1 tablespoon peeled, trimmed, minced garlic (4-6 cloves garlic)
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¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
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¼ cup canola oil
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¼ cup Kikkoman soy sauce
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2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry (NOT cooking wine)
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2 tablespoons fish sauce
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2 tablespoons Chinese Ten-Spice
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1 teaspoon fine sea salt
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To prepare lemongrass, remove one inch off the root end and one-third off the stalk. With a mallet, tap along the stalk to release the essential oils. Cut stalk in half lengthwise, and then strip and discard the tough outside layers. Thinly slice crosswise and then mince the stalk. You should get ½ cup of minced stalk.
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In a medium mixing bowl, combine lemongrass, gingerroot, garlic, brown sugar, oil, soy sauce, rice wine, fish sauce, ten-spice, and salt.
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Cover and refrigerate until needed.
Makes about 1¼ cup.
More LunaCafe Asian Inspired Recipes
- All Asia All Month 2015
- Almost Luc Lac Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
- Asian Pancakes (Beijing Pancakes)
- Asian Pantry: Korean Red Pepper Powder & Threads
- Asian Potsticker Dough (for Jiaozi & Gyoza Dumplings)
- Asian Snack Crackers & Other Extraordinary Munchies
- Asian Tacos with Prawn & Shiitake Filling & Cabbage Slaw
- Chinese Cracker Jacks
- Chinese Good Fortune Cookies
- Eat. Portland. Sen Yai Noodles.
- General Tso’s Chicken: Crispy, Spicy, Sweet & Tart
- Golden Fried Garlic Sesame Noodles
- Home-Style Chinese Fried Rice
- Phat Thai (Stir-Fried Rice Noodles with Tamarind Sauce, Peanuts & Lime)
- Pok Pok’s World Famous Vietnamese Chicken Wings
- Pork & Prawn Potstickers (aka Asian Dumplings)
- Portland Food Carts: Mama Chow’s Kitchen
- Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad
- Spicy Korean Noodle Soup (Jjambbong)
- Spicy Pork Wonton Soup
- Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce
- Spicy Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)
- Thai Red Curry Paste
- Thai Red Curry Soup
- Vietnamese Chicken Salad
- Vietnamese Crispy Crepes (Banh Xeo)
More LunaCafe Chinese Five-Spice Recipes
- Blackberry Lime Syrup with Star Anise
- Chinese Cracker Jacks
- Heavenly Hot Chocolate Mix–with Seven Variations
- Silver Bells (Chinese Five Spice Butter Cookies)
Copyright 2015 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.
I think my eyes just popped out of my head. I need this in my life. And I happen to have all of the ingredients.The flavors must be like, whoa!!
Angela, now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. You have lemongrass in the fridge? I’m impressed. 🙂
Sounding so delicious and intense with all of those flavors! Can’t wait to try it. The likelihood of buying goes up when one wants to eat all the pages of a cook book too ;0)
Alana, thank you. I’m a cookbook addict and have plenty of goo–but rather ho hum–cookbooks. Street Food knocks it out of the park. Every page is inspired. Susan Feniger is all about FLAVOR, and she knows her stuff.
Loving all of the flavors in this!
Des, thank you! Try it, it’s sooo delicious.
What a comforting blend! I love pretty much all Asian food and get super excited when a marinade has lemongrass!
When I saw you post about your new stir-fry sauces on Facebook, I couldn’t wait until you rolled out the recipes. This looks fantastic, Susan!! Such a great thing to make in advance so you can walk in the door and whip up a delicious meal in no time. Thanks for the great recipes!
Kristy, thanks so much! 🙂 I just posted Chinese Ten-Spice Chicken Wings made with this wonderful marinade. So easy and a great crowd pleaser.
Wow, you might have to rename that Umami Sauce!
Dorothy, great idea, but I already have a recipe with that title. LOL!
You are really on a roll, Susan. I love your dry sense of humor!
Thanks Rick. 🙂