Mystery Box Challenge- Bo Kho

My good friend Kitty and I have devised a new challenge. Kitty's (I am very jealous of this) parents are both chefs, her Mum owning a bakery in Malaysia, and her Dad numerous Chinese takeaways. As a result, she takes trips to Asian supermarkets often, so I offered her a new game for us to play. She buys a cheap, random Asian ingredient, and I solve the mystery of what it is and what to do with it. For our debut, Kitty purchased a box of something called 'Bo Kho', recommended by her mum. They looked like some kind of beguiling stock cube.
I was more or less right- Bo Kho is a Vietnamese beef stew, with all the principles of a good 'ole traditional English stew, but with a diverse Asian kick. If you can get your hand on the stock cubes, or alternatively annatto seeds, I implore you to give this a go.
1)Toss about 1.5k of stewing beef, such as shin, in seasoned flour (but here seasoned with the Asian magic of 3 teaspoons of Chinese Five Spice) and sear the meat in very hot oil until it's well browned. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil.
2)With the sort-of beefy roux left from the flour and oil in the pan, fill with about 1 1/2 litres of water, add 2 cubes of bo Kho stock, or you could have seared the beef in oil seasoned with annatto seeds if you can find them, you just want that rich, red twang in the sauce. Add a good glug (125ml) of schaoxing rice wine, or if you can't find that use good dark sherry, only about 1 tbsp of soy sauce and oyster sauce, plus two bruised lemon grass stalks, a broken cinnamon stick, some ginger slices and 2 star anise. Add 2 tbsp tomato puree, some sliced carrots and some peeled shallots or boiling onions. Return the meat to the pot, and cook in a low (150 degrees) oven for about 3 hours, until everything is very tender. If you feel the stew needs more seasoning, you could add some dried chilli for pep and some more soy. Serve with boiled ricestick noodles.