I love a challenge, so when the people from Amoy asked me if I wanted to take part in their next Blogger Challenge, I couldn’t say no. As it turns out, the challenge involved barbecuing and Asian flavours – two of my favourite things. Throw in a wonderful English summer (long may it continue) and I was ready to go.

Amoy has a range of stir fry sauces, noodles, soya sauces and sticky glazes and I was sent a box of goodies to inspire me. Plenty to ponder over.

The Amoy goodies I was sent to use in my creations

So my imagination ended up working overtime and I came up with four dishes. I decided to use the products imaginatively, for example I used the satay stir fry sauce more as a baste and a dip, which worked really well. And the Soya sauce with garlic and five spice also works well as a baste! Also, salad and side dishes are a vital part of any barbecue for me, so as well as the tasty meat and fish dishes I created, there are a couple of other ideas as accompaniments.

Spicy marinated prawn salad

This dish is a picture in pink and green: marinated prawns on a bed of leaves, radishes and courgette ribbons

Serves two for a light lunch

180g raw, peeled king prawns

For the marinade

2 tbsp olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsps chopped ginger

1 tbsp light Amoy soya sauce

3 tsps Amoy soya sauce with garlic and five spice

1 tsp sugar

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and pour over the prawns. Mix well and leave to marinate for at least an hour, up to three.

The prawns soak up the flavours of the zesty marinade

For the salad

50g baby pea shoots (or any salad leaves you fancy)

2 large handfuls of fresh mint leaves

1 handful fresh basil leaves

6 radishes, thinly sliced

1 small courgette sliced into ribbons using a vegetable peeler

Place all the salad ingredients in a bowl.

Barbecue the prawns on a medium to warm barbecue for about two minutes on each side until nicely pink.

Remove from the heat and place on top of the salad.

Pour some of the leftover marinade over the prawns and salad.

My top tips

I love the fact that the marinade doubles up as the dressing for the salad. It tastes amazing and there’s no wastage.

You can use prawns on the shell for this. They do barbecue better and hold their flavour well. I couldn’t find any in the shop on the day and found these ones worked well, too.

I love the baby pea shoots in supermarkets at the moment. Don’t despair if you can’t find any, any sort of leaf will work really.

Raw courgettes thinly sliced and lightly dressed taste amazingly fresh and juicy.

Delicious prawn salad made easy

Crunchy Asian beef salad

Serves 2

1 large sirloin steak

Amoy Chinese barbecue sticky glaze

For the salad

100g bean sprouts

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

4 spring onions, sliced small on the diagonal

2 handfuls salted peanuts

1 handful of chopped coriander

For the dressing

Juice of 2 limes

1 tsp fish sauce

2 dried chillis

A dash of Amoy light soya sauce

1 tsp sugar

Time to get basting

Baste the steak well on both sides with the glaze using a basting brush and leave for about an hour to soak up the flavours.

Barbecue the steak for 3 mins on each side for rare, basting again when it’s on the barbecue.

Cooking alfresco…happiness is me and my steak and my glaze

The finished steak looked so good I had to share a picture

While the steak is cooking, mix together all the salad ingredients except the coriander and peanuts.Toss with half of the salad dressing.

Let the steak rest for a few minutes, then cut into thin slices. Lay over the salad and sprinkle over peanuts and chopped coriander.

My beautifully crunchy salad with the zestiest of chilli dressings

Satay pork

Now this sauce is a stir-fry sauce, but really, what’s the difference between frying and barbecuing? So I thought I’d give it a try. Worked out deliciously.

Makes 2 satays

2 pork steaks, trimmed of fat and bashed until they’re really thin, then cut into long strips.

1 packet Amoy Satay Stir Fry sauce

Brush the strips of pork well with the stir fry sauce.

Then thread onto two skewers. Brush on more sauce and leave for about half an hour.

Barbecue for five minutes on each side.

Couldn’t be simpler! These are great for party snacks.

Top tips

Use the leftover sauce as a dip, it works really well if you warm it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Flattening the pork makes it amazingly tender. And it’s a great way to get rid of any frustrations after a hard day at work (if you have any)!

Simple satays sizzle away

Cooked and ready to eat

Seared tuna with chilli noodles

Fresh tuna tastes amazing, is really easy to barbecue and it’s good for you! The Amoy Ready for Wok noodles are fabulous to use without the hassle of pre-cooking and they never go stodgy, so you’re guaranteed fresh tasting, light noodles every time.

For the noodles

1 packet Amoy Ready for Wok noodles

Half a yellow pepper, chopped into small pieces

5 spring onions, sliced

1 chilli, chopped

2 tsp Amoy soya sauce with garlic and five spice

2 tbsps sesame seeds, dry fried

1 tuna steak

Brush the tuna with some Amoy sauce with garlic and five spice and leave for about 10 minutes.

Brush it again with the sauce and then with some olive oil.

In the meantime make the noodles. Stir fry the pepper, spring onions and chilli in a little oil for about 5 mins. Add the sauce and gently stir in the noodles. Place them in pan whole, straight from the packet and press down on them gently with the back of a wooden spoon. They will separate beautifully. Stir fry for a few minutes until the noodles soften and heat through, absorbing all the flavours.

Barbecued tuna on a bed of noodles with beautiful mushrooms

Place the tuna on a hot barbecue for about 3 mins on each side. It should still be pink (or red, depending on your taste) inside.

Put the noodles into a bowl, slice the tuna and add on top.

Top tips

I can’t resist the beautiful large flat mushrooms in the supermarkets at the moment. They are perfect barbecued, simply brush with a little olive oil and Amoy garlic and five spice sauce and sizzle. They taste lusciously juicy and flavoursome. I added them to my tuna dish as you can see above.

Experiment with different combinations of vegetables, meat and fish for a range of tasty noodle options.

Well, I certainly think I embraced that challenge! What a lot of yummy dishes we enjoyed. And my imagination is still running with plenty of plans for more Asian-based barbecues. Bring it on!

Let me know what you think of my recipes or about anything exciting you’ve done on the barbecue.

For more information about Amoy visit www.amoy.co.uk