Cooking with Lee Kum Kee Chinese sauces

What a nice feeling when a brand approach you saying that they have seen your blog and love the way you write your recipes. That is what happened to me recently. I got a DM on Twitter from Lee Kum Kee, a chinese sauce brand saying they would like to work with me on a recipe feature. This was after I tweeted them a photo of my pumpkin muffins for their Halloween competition, with no link to my blog. So they must have searched for my blog via my Twitter profile. I didn’t win the competition though!

So I received a selection of six of their sauces free. They also sent a key ring. The sauces comprised:-
Hoisin Sauce
Plum Sauce
Chiu Chow Chilli Oil
Char Siu Sauce
Premium Oyster Sauce
Soy Sauce

They were well packed in bubble wrap, but several of the safety buttons on the lids had popped up, I assume in transit.

Lee Kum Kee wanted me to come up with some traditional English festive recipes to showcase that their sauces are not limited to just oriental cuisine.

So first here are my recipes for Turkey Dippers and Mini Prawn toad in the holes which along with vegetable crudites, I served with all the sauces as dips, even those which are not commonly served as dips.

Turkey Dippers

Ingredients (makes approx 20)

2 turkey breast steaks
1 slice of stale white bread
1 egg
50g cheese
salt
pepper
mixed herbs
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp olive oil

Method

Cut the turkey into strips.
Tear the bread into pieces and whizz to crumbs in food processor.
Grate the cheese.
Mix breadcrumbs, cheese, salt, pepper and herbs together.
Beat the egg.
Spread the flour on a chopping board.
Roll the turkey strips in flour.
Then dip in the egg.
Then roll in the cheesy breadcrumbs to coat.
Heat oil in frying pan.
Cook the turkey dippers on a moderate heat, turning occasionally.
Serve either hot or cold with dipping Chinese sauces and enjoy.

Mini Prawn toad in the holes

Ingredients (makes 24)

1 bag of frozen king prawns
200g plain flour
1 egg
300ml milk
salt

Method

Defrost the prawns for about 3hrs at room temperature.
Preheat fan oven to 180 deg C.
Grease a mini muffin tin.
Put one prawn in each muffin hole.
Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl.
Beat the egg.
Mix in the egg and sufficient milk to make a thick paste.
Gradually beat in remainder of milk.
Pour the batter into a jug.
Allow to stand for 15 minutes.
Heat the muffin tin in oven for 1 minute.
Pour the batter into the muffin holes.
Cook on middle shelf of oven for approx 15-20 minutes.
Serve either hot or cold with dipping Chinese sauces and enjoy.

 

Then I used some of the Hoisin sauce for glazing a roast gammon joint.

Roast Gammon with Hoisin and honey glaze

Ingredients

1 gammon joint (approx 1.1 kg)
1 tbsp Lee Kee Kum Hoisin sauce
1 tbsp honey

Method

Preheat fan oven to 170 deg C.
Wash the gammon.
Mix the hoisin sauce and honey together for the glaze.
Brush the gammon all over with the glaze.
Place gammon in a roasting tray and cover loosely with foil.
Cook for 1 hour on middle shelf of oven.
Rebrush with more glaze.
Turn temperature down to 150 deg C.
Continue to cook for a further 45 mins to 1 hour.
Test that it is cooked with a skewer.
Rebrush with remainder of glaze.
Allow to stand for 15 minutes.
Carve into slices.
Serve hot with your choice of potatoes and vegetables.
Enjoy.

And finally I drizzled plum sauce over my apple pancakes.

Apple Pancakes with Plum Sauce

Ingredients (makes 6)

1 large Bramley apple (approx 250g)
200g plain flour
1 egg
300ml milk
salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp Lee Kee Kum Plum sauce

Method

Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl.
Beat the egg.
Mix in the egg and sufficient milk to make a thick paste.
Gradually beat in remainder of milk.
Pour the batter into a jug.
Allow to stand for 15 minutes.
Peel the apple.
Grate apple until just the core remains.
Mix grated apple into batter.
Heat the oil in small frying pan.
Pour sufficient batter to cover base of pan.
Cook over moderate heat.
Flip pancake over when underside is golden brown.
Continue to cook until 2nd side is also golden brown.
Transfer to a plate.
Drizzle plum sauce over the pancake.
Serve and enjoy.

Since the toad in the holes and the pancakes use the same basic batter recipe, I made a double batch of batter for both.

Everything was delicious, although in retrospect I would have just used the plum sauce, hoisin sauce and chilli oil as dips. And the chilli oil had a wonderful fiery kick. Certainly 3 dips would have been sufficient, but I wanted to try all the products and didn’t have time to come up with additional recipes. I usually use soy sauce or oyster sauce in stir-fry dishes like my Tofu & Rice Stir-Fry. And Char Siu sauce is best known for marinating pork.

Most of these products can be purchased in major supermarkets. According to My Supermarket, prices currently range between £1.80 for either Hoisin or Char Siu Sauce to £2.90 for Chiu Chow Chilli Oil.

So what dishes would you make for Christmas using Chinese sauces?

Disclosure.  This post is a review of products I was sent for free.  And I have been reimbursed for the purchase of the other ingredients. All opinions are my own.