Hey It's Jen Lou

We are currently spending time with my husband’s family for the holidays and it’s significantly colder in Boulder than it is in Seattle. 

Our original plan to travel with empty carry on luggages so we can transport the presents back, are out the window, as our snow gear has taken up space, but I made an effort to pack my spices, just in case I couldn’t find  them in Colorado. I found out later that There’s a Great Wall AND an H Mart within a 20 minute drive! How lucky! 

What I didn’t find in any liquor store or even in the Asian grocery was plum wine, so I worked with what we had, took a bottle of Sauvignon blanc from my parents- in- law’s wine rack and mulled it with spices. 

Red mulled wine is common, but neither is mulled white wine unheard of. I chose white, because I really wanted to infuse the flavor of ginger, which works better in white versus red wine. I also used some dried Chinese fruit, such as goji berries and jujubes for a little TCM love. I chose to use the five spices in Chinese 5 spice separately for this drink, because I like playing with the different ratios, but by all means, if you already have Chinese 5 spice in your pantry, you may opt to use that. If you do, make sure you use a tea bag because an infuser’s holes are too big and you will have to pass your mulled wine through an extra- fine sieve strainer. 

Special thanks to my in-laws, Alberto and Rebeca,  for allowing me the pleasure of using your kitchen and encouraging me to help myself to anything that’s in it!

Happy New Year!

Chinese White Mulled Wine

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Equipment needed: Tea bag or tea infuser

Ingredients:

1 thumb ginger, peeled and cut

1 mandarin peel

1 mandarin, juiced

1 bottle white wine

¼ cup dried goji berry

½ cup dried jujube

¼ cup honey

Chinese 5 Spice* 

1 tbsp whole sichuan peppercorn

1 tsp fennel

3 star anise

8 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

Instructions:

*If you are using ground Chinese 5 spice, use a tea bag to infuse and skip to step 3.

1. Stud the mandarin peel with cloves. 
2. Fill tea infuser with fennel and sichuan peppercorns.
3. Pour wine in a pot, the rest of the prepared ingredients and bring to a simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes. 
4. Remove from heat, and discard ginger, cinnamon stick, mandarin peel, cloves, star anise and tea bag or tea infuser.
5. Serve while hot.