Homemade Asian Spice Blend

Mixed, and on hand for use at a moment’s notice, this blend of spices imparts a familiar sweet and savory flavor to any Asian-style recipe, especially when used with soy sauce and sesame oil. The inclusion of dried mushroom powder and sesame seeds lends a full and round flavor profile to the mix.

There are familiar ingredients and flavors across many Asian and Asian-inspired recipes and I wanted to bring together all the right flavors in a dry mix that would make it easy and fast to pull together a favorite, noodle, stir-fry, udon soup, or juicy protein dish with all the rich and umami infused flavors of those dishes. The hack is using all dry ingredients, and another benefit is less oil is needed to create a flavorful dish.

No fresh ingredients, but huge flavor, follow the hack!

RECIPE RECAP:
~ This spice blend hack eliminates the need for fresh garlic, ginger, onion, or mushrooms as well as allowing for less oil. It imparts that sweet and savory flavor to dishes (see links for recipes below) so characteristic in Asian dishes such as bulgogi. Great as a dry rub on proteins for a stir fry. Keep on hand for a moment’s notice.

~Plan of attack:
1. Finalize whether to include mushroom powder/grind dry mushrooms. 2. Mix with rest of ingredients, all within 10 min.

Above: 1. Red and Aleppo pepper flakes are options. 2. Coconut sugar works well because of its drier consistency. 3. dried shiitake (or any variety) mushrooms are ground to a powder.

Ingredient notes and substitutions

• Coconut sugar – there is often a sweet component to Asian recipes. I chose coconut sugar because it is dry enough to work in a spice blend and has a nice caramelized flavor that comes through in lesser amounts. It is available in many grocery stores with other sugars in the baking aisle, but you can use white sugar, but traditional brown sugar is too moist for use in this spice blend.
• Crushed Aleppo pepper flakes – I prefer the milder, fruitier flavor of Aleppo pepper flakes, but more typical red pepper flakes can certainly be used instead.
• Ginger, garlic, and onion powder– this trifecta is often included in Asian recipes.
• White pepper – finely ground white pepper is milder than black, commonly used in Asian recipes, and a great addition to this mix, but you can sub black pepper (the finer ground the better).
• Sesame seeds– so convenient to have this favorite ingredient as part of the blend.
• MushroomPowder – adds depth of flavor that can be layered if you include fresh mushrooms in the dish you make. You can purchase online or whole dried at your local grocery store (they hang with other dried produce in the produce section at my store) and grind them to a fine powder easily in a coffee or spice grinder. You can leave it out if not readily available.
• Onion and garlic powders– preferable to the granules but either can be used.

How to use this Asian spice blend

So far, my favorite way to use this Asian blend is to coat shredded tofu and mushrooms with the blend, drizzle with the slightest amount of oil, and roast at high heat for a “ground meat” substitute in my recipe called Tofu Lettuce Wraps, but there are many options such as:

• Coat your protein of choice with this blend before roasting or browning on the stovetop.
• Sprinkle on top of veggies in wok stir fry with your choice of soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos and a final drizzle of sesame oil for a quick meal.
• Create a flavorful broth by stirring the blend into a ramen or udon noodle soup.
• Simply use this blend in place of what spices are called for when preparing your next Asian recipe, especially when you don’t have all the fresh ingredients on hand.
• Try my recipes using the blend: Tempeh Tahini Noodles, Mongolian Shaved Beef and noodles, Asian Coleslaw with Spicy Marinated Shiitake Mushrooms, or Spicy Sesame Marinated Beech Mushrooms.
• For more in depth information about making homemade spice blends with more ideas and tips, check out Spice Blend Recipes: My Go-To Blends + How I Create My Own.