Warm chicken salad with grilled mango and peaches (Amoy Blogger Challenge)

While a soy sauce is an essential ingredient in many Oriental cuisines and recipes, it is such a versatile ingredient that you don't have to limit its use to just Asian-inspired food. I often make simple salads with soy sauce or add to fried meats or vegetables instead of salt. Even a fruit salad might get a boost from a soy sauce. The Amoy range of sauces, noodles and coconut milk is well known and deservedly popular among cooks of all levels of culinary skills.

Warm chicken salad with grilled mango and peaches

Recently Amoy has launched a range of 3 soy sauces including Garlic & Chinese 5 spice, Kaffir Lime and Lemongrass and Red Chilli. They all sound delicious. I have tried one of the varieties (Garlic), cooking a stir fry, and it was delicious.

Beef stir fry with carrots, wild mushrooms, garlic, Amoy noodles and soy sauce

Amoy has also produced a range of Easy Meal Kits, which I haven't seen yet. I believe they are available in Asda only, and we don't have an Asda in town.
As an Amoy fan, I was happy to be invited to take part in an Amoy Blogger Challenge. All participating bloggers got a selection of Amoy foods (three soy sauces, lots of noodles and more) to play with and cook a BBQ meal.

This is the stash which I received for the Amoy Blogger Challenge

So, in the last couple of weeks I have been adding different soy sauces to numerous dishes, like a simple chicken and vegetables stir fry with red peppers, courgettes, tomatoes, garlic and herbs.

Use light soy sauce to cook a baked fish dish. Last Sunday I happened to buy some beautiful Dover sole (two whole fish for a pound and a half, as it was just before the closing time at Waitrose). I filleted the fish, placed it on the oiled tray, scattered thinly sliced fennel over it. Then I poured half a glass of white wine with Amoy light soy sauce, and later added some chopped dill. It was fabulous with the fried potatoes with wild mushrooms.

Dover sole fillets with fennel, dill, white wine and soy sauce

Yet for the Blogger Challenge I cooked a simple Warm chicken salad with grilled mango and peaches. It was so tasty, that my husband said It was extraordinarily good.

Warm chicken salad with grilled mango and peaches
Ingredients:
300g chicken fillets
2 peaches, quartered
1 big mango, peeled and sliced
1 tsp chilli paste (or use a fresh chilli)
1tbsp soy sauce
2tbsp olive oil
rocket salad, to serve with
a handful of pistachio nuts
for the dressing:
2tbsp olive oil
1/2 lime, juice
2tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp honey, runny variety

Start by peeling the skin from mango. Cut the cheeks off and set them aside for later grilling, and then cut off all the remaining soft juicy bits, whizz them with a hand blender in a medium bowl and mix with some chilli paste, soy sauce and olive oil. Put the thin strips of chicken fillets in the marinade, and coat them well with it. Leave the chicken in the marinade for at least an hour.
Later cook the chicken fillets on the BBQ, turning regularly until cooked through (no pink juice running). Grill the quartered peaches and mango slices until browned for about 5-7 minutes.
Assemble the salad by layering the rocket as the base, then adding chicken fillets, mango and peach slices. Scatter some pistachios. Make the dressing by mixing the olive oil, honey, soy sauce and juice of a fresh lime. Pour over the salad, and serve while it is still warm. Enjoy!

I love the combination of sweet and savoury flavours, and the soy sauce works beautifully in marinades and sauces.

If you liked this recipe, you might be interested in reading a blog post with a recipe for Soy sauce and chilli glazed duck with fruit salsa.
And don't forget to have a look at what the other foodie bloggers prepared for the Amoy Blogger challenge: Alison from Dragons and Fairy Dust has created several mouth-watering recipes including a Noodle salad and Peanut satay and lime chicken kebabs; Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews has assembled a delicious Sticky Chinese Steak with Rainbow Noodle Salad.

Disclosure: I received a selection of Amoy products for the purposes of taking part in Amoy Blogger Challenge. All opinions are mine.

Honey and soy sauce glazed salmon

Honey and soy sauce glazed salmon
Ingredients:

2 big fillets of salmon (about 350g each)
1 lime (zest and juice)
3 tbsp soy sauce (I used Amoy Special Selection)
2 tbsp runny honey (for example, Clarks)
3tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 clove of garlic
1tbsp grated ginger (or frozen ginger flakes)
3 baby leeks

To make the glaze mix the following ingredients: the olive oil, honey, soy sauce, fish sauce, zest and juice of 1 lime, 1 finely chopped clove of garlic and some grated ginger (I confess I have a packet of ginger flakes in the freezer from Waitrose, very convenient for when you need just a small amount of ginger.) Don't worry about the amount of honey, 2tbsp might seem a lot for the fish, but as you add the juice and zest of 1 lime, it will counter-balance the flavours. But by all means, experiment yourself, this is not written in the Scriptures.
Slice the baby leeks.
Place the salmon fillets in a deep baking tray (the sauce will be splattering quite a bit, as you can see from the photo below). Scatter the leeks over the fish and leave it to marinade for at least half an hour before roasting/baking in the oven at 180C for about half an hour.
Serve hot with the rice.

The flavours are pretty amazing: the salmon is zingy and spicy, and very-very tasty. I had a medium piece left, and the next day made a potato salad with chopped potatoes, sliced apple and flaked fish (with the olive oil/lime dressing). It was lovely cold as well.

Many thanks to Darlene Schmidt for the inspiration. I have stumbled across her recipe for Salmon in Asian Soy, Honey & Ginger Sauce on About.com. I have adapted the recipe to suit the ingredients I had (I omitted the hoisin sauce and changed the quantities of the other ingredients etc but it was her recipe that inspired me. I have found quite a lot of soy and honey recipes for the salmon online, but this one was the most exciting).

Tuna and orange salad with croutons

Summer (what summer? I hear you ask) is a perfect time for eating salads. And this is the right time to experiment with the ingredients, changing a few bits here, adding a few new touches there, or even just sticking to the good old classics, if you don't fancy any changes. Tuna salads are very popular, but could get a bit boring. How about jazzing it up a bit? Here is a delicious summery twist on the standard tuna salad with beans - Tuna and orange salad with croutons.

Tuna and orange salad with croutons (serves 2-3)
Ingredients:
185g tin of tuna chunks in spring water, drained
1 orange, skinned and sliced
400g tin of mixed bean salad in water, drained and rinsed
a handful of pea shoots
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
2tbsp Amoy Special Selection soy sauce
1tsp Greek honey
2tbsp olive oil
a handful of Fresh Gourmet sea salt & cracked black pepper croutons

Salad before the croutons are added

Drain the water from both tins (and rinse the beans). In a bowl mix the beans with tuna chunks, lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, soy sauce and Greek honey.
Take a deep salad dish and arrange first the pea shoots and orange slices, then the tuna/beans mix. Add the olives. This could be made a couple of hours before serving (keep in the fridge covered with the plastic wrap).
Just before serving add a handful of croutons.

These days I have been testing a selection of Fresh Gourmet croutons (see my post Mango and mozzarella salad). I thought Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper Croutons would work well with the tuna salad, and indeed, they added a lovely crunch and flavour.
I love croutons and would happily munch on them through the day. This is a classic flavour that would be perfect for salads and soups. I can imagine a freshly made pea and mint soup with a swirl of soured cream would be great with a scattering of these croutons.

This colourful salad is tasty and full of different textures. Try it!

You can find more about Fresh Gourmet toppings, if you visit Fresh Gourmet UK page.

Zingy pork with pak choi

This recipe is inspired by Helen from Fuss Free Food blog. When I say "inspired" I want to acknowledge that I have borrowed the idea but haven't followed the original recipe precisely, as I'm not the biggest fan of kale, and I'm afraid my version is more calorie-laden. But if I haven't seen Helen's video link on Twitter for Zesty Coriander Pork, I would not have been inspired to try it. 

Zesty Pork with Pak Choi

Ingredients:

500g pork

2tbsp Special Selection Soy Sauce

1tsp Tabasco

1 garlic clove

pak choi (a bunch, not sure about the weight)

1tbsp brandy

15g fresh coriander, chopped

1 lemon (juice+zest)

2tbsp olive oil

1tsp grated ginger

If you carefully watch Helen's video, she has coated pieces of pork in coriander and lemon zest mixture. I confess I tend to cook my pork for longer, so coating in advance wouldn't quite work for me, as the coriander would have been burnt.

So, what did I do? I stir fried the cubed pork in the wok with the olive oil and brandy until well browned on both sides, and then started adding all the other ingredients: grated ginger, soy sauce, Tabasco, chopped garlic, lemon juice and zest and cooked for a few minutes more before adding the pak choi and fresh coriander. I added a bit of water and covered the wok with the lid, so that pak choi would wilt. 

Serve the pork with the jasmine rice or noodles. The flavours were amazing: zingy and fresh. I have used the Amoy Special Selection soy sauce. Tabasco was the substitute for the fresh chili. I actually do have a pot of fresh chilies in the greenhouse, but when I was cooking this dish, it was bucketing outside and I didn't feel like running through the garden to fetch a fresh chili.

If you are counting the calories, visit the original recipe on Helen's blog (see the link at the top of my post).

Soy sauce and chilli glazed sticky duck with fruit salsa

My husband spent a week in Hong Kong recently, and on coming home confessed that he was tired of eating the Chinese food for a week at all the official functions, but he also managed to sneak out once or twice to Pizza Express (my poor Italian hubby, a week without pasta must have been a torture, lol). Personally I love the Chinese food, as it is so versatile, and varied. A week passed after his return, and I thought it was safe to prepare a Chinese-influenced dish for dinner.
This is by no means an authentic recipe but more of a fusion of cuisines and flavours, but it works really well.

Amoy has recently launched a new Special Selection Soy Sauce. To mark the occasion, lovely blogger and creative foodie Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews has teamed with Amoy to invite her blog readers to experiment with the new soy sauce and create their own recipes. The recipes will be judged, and the best entry will win a Chinese-themed goodie bag, courtesy of Amoy.

Soy sauce and chilli glazed sticky duck with fruit salsa
Ingredients:
for the salsa
2 kiwis, cubed
2 medium slices of watermelon, cubed
1 orange, sliced
a handful of fresh mint
1 tbsp Amoy special selection soy sauce
1/2 orange, juiced
1/2 lime, juiced
1tsp honey

2 duck legs
3tbsp chilli jam
2tbsp Amoy special selection soy sauce
1tsp hot chili powder
salt
olive oil

rice or noodles to serve

Start by preparing the fruit salsa. The idea of pickling the watermelons is not a new one. It is very popular in the Southern Russia to pickle slices of watermelon in salty brine, and it is lovely on a hot summer day.
Slice the orange (peel it first). Chop/cube the watermelon and kiwis. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well with the orange and lime juice, honey and soy sauce. Let it infuse for a couple of hours, occasionally stirring. Before serving tear a few mint leaves and add to the fruit salsa.

Rub two duck legs with a bit of olive oil, season and sprinkle the hot chilli powder to coat them evenly. Place in the oven preheated to 200C in a deep dish for about 30 minutes. Mix the chilli jam with the soy sauce, and spread over the duck legs. Roast for another 30 minutes, until the skin is crispy and really caramelised-sticky.

Serve with the noodles or egg-fried rice.

I have received a bottle of Amoy Special Selection Soy Sauce to take part in the cooking challenge.