Sunday 26 April 2015

Ambu Tree Marinade Review

I'm so excited!

A couple of weeks ago, whilst on Twitter, Priya from @AmbuTree messaged me to see if I would like to try their marinades, after a bit of chatting, I discovered that although the marinades contained soy beans, and were therefore unsuitable for me, children loved the Chinese Five Spice and the Mild Tandoori marinades and Priya agreed to send them to me for R to try. 

Ambu Tree is a small, family run business, which came about because Priya's Husband and Daughter are intolerant to gluten and dairy, and Priya was struggling to find authentic tasting Indian marinades and spices without gluten or nasty additives and high amounts of sugar in, and so she decided to make her own using her memories of being at her Grandfather's home in India when she was a child.  Click here to read Priya's Story

I was out when the parcel arrived and I had one of those little cards through the door, with my alias Lupin Girl on the card informing me to bring I.D to the post office to collect my parcel.  This was a little problem for me, and one I hadn't foreseen.  I have only recently started blogging and growing Lupin Girl and have no I.D of any description lol, luckily there was an option to have it re-delivered so I chose that.  Typically this second time they delivered I was also out!  Why do they always deliver when you are on the school run?  This time though, luckily, my neighbour was home and took the parcel in for me.  I was very excited to be getting my first delivery as Lupin Girl.



The first marinade my son, and the rest of my family, tried was the Chinese Five Spice one as Priya had tweeted to say that it was the milder tasting one of the two and smelt amazing and fruity.  I have to admit here to cooking it slightly different to the directions on the sleeve (Sorry Priya!)  I cooked my chicken chunks in the frying pan, then, making sure the pan was not oily, I poured the marinade over the chicken and stirred to make sure it was all covered, then I left it on a low heat to work it's magic, it's really quite amazing as it looks just as if you've cooked the chicken on the BBQ when done. 

We were having jacket potatoes with various fillings (including some of the marinaded chicken) for dinner that night, well except for the boys who don't like jacket potatoes and who were having the marinaded chicken with rice.



I was actually speechless at dinnertime, L decided she wanted to try the marinaded chicken (I think discovering that she liked the lemon and herb chicken has opened her mind to trying things)  I had left a good portion of the chicken which I cooked plain so that I could eat it, and I expected L to eat it too, however she liked the chicken with the Chinese Five Spice on!  R loved it, he said it tasted really yummy and not spicy. C and B enjoyed it too and I had to cook a second batch for when J got home from work as they ate the lot. 

They did all say that it had a warming, taste which they loved and R has asked me a couple of times since if he is having it for dinner again.

A few nights later I tried the Tastebud Tickling Mild Tandoori marinade, again with chicken and rice, again I left some chicken plain, some for me, and some because Priya had said it was a bit spicier than the Chinese Five Spice marinade, it did smell spicier. 



Again, everyone wanted to try it, and again I was left speechless as L, who normally doesn't like anything with even a tiny bit of flavour, loved it, despite R warning her it was spicy before she tasted it, she did need to have a glass of milk with dinner, but ate everything.  B wasn't keen on this one though, her reason made me chuckle as she said it tasted yellow!  As I've not been able to try them myself I've had to rely on them for reviews and C, my budding chef, said he thinks maybe B can taste the turmeric or cumin and perhaps doesn't enjoy those flavours?  R enjoyed this marinade too, and J enjoyed using up the pot on some vegetables with rice for his lunch the following day.



I love the fact that these marinades are made with natural ingredients, they fit in with our attempt at cutting out refined sugar:

                         Healthy - Only 20 calories per serving, no added oils, gluten free and dairy free. The tandoori marinades contain no added sugar whilst the Chinese five spice contains a healthy agave nectar (suitable for diabetics and vegans).
                           ( http://www.ambutree.com/pages/about-us )

Don't be put off by the size of the pots, you get 100g and the sleeve says it serves 4-6, it does indeed, and at £3.85 per pot is a fair price considering you are getting a natural, healthy marinade to feed 6.  I will be ordering these again as they can be frozen and will be fantastic for those times when I slip out and leave hubby in charge of cooking dinner for the tribe.

I want to thank Priya and Ambu Tree for allowing R the chance to try these amazing marinades out.  R said they were amazing he loved them both the same and that they were yummy. 

Lupin Girl x

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