Toyomansi sauce is a classic Filippino dipping sauce (also known as sawsawan), often used for siomai or as a marinade for chicken, fish, pork adobo and even beef, that is deliciously tangy but ever so easy to make. You only need 3-4 main ingredients, and 5 minutes!
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What is toyomansi?
In Tagalog (the Filipino language), toyo means soy sauce, so toyomansi is simply a combination soy sauce with calamansi, a species of lime that is very popular in South East Asian countries like Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia for tis fruity and floral fragrance (toyo + calamansi.)
Uses
Calamansi soy sauce is often eaten:
- as a dipping sauce for siomai
- as a dipping sauce for fried chicken and fried fish
- as a marinade for chicken, pork, beef and fish
- with chicken adobo or pork adobo
- spooned over white rice
Personally, I love how the tanginess goes with steamed or poached seafood. In fact, last night I used it as seasoning for my coconut water poached prawns.
Ingredients
The main ingredients are:
- light soy sauce
- Note: don't confuse this with dark soy sauce, thick soy sauce or sweet soy sauce, which are different
- calamansi juice
- Substitute: lime juice, lemon juice or, worse comes to worse, vinegar
- Calamansi is very easy to grow at home - here are some calamansi sweet treat recipes to use up any excess crop you have. For more edible garden, Asian Recipes, click here.
- sliced bird's eye chilli
- Substitute: other chillies
- I like to use a combination of red and green big chillies when I have guests as it makes the sauce look more attractive and the heat level is more tolerable for people who don't eat a lot of spicy food
- and aromatics such as sliced shallots and minced garlic
Variations
You can season you calamansi and soy sauce with:
- fish sauce
- Note: There is a very similar Thai dipping sauce to this type of toyomansi
- vinegar
- ponzu
Tips
- This Filipino soy sauce is so quick and easy to make, people usually make it right at the table, although leaving the aromatics to infuse for a few minutes does give it more flavour.
- Save the calamansi seeds and you can grow your own fruit! (It will take a few years from seed- in fact, I have a little seedling in front of me now as I work.)
Related recipes
Toyomansi sauce & marinade (Calamansi soy sauce)
Equipment
- Knife and chopping board
- Strainer, optional
Ingredients
- 4 T Light soy sauce
- 4 T calamansi lime juice, seeds strained out I usually eyeball it and use 6 small calamansi for 4T of soy sauce. Substitute: key lime, Meyer lime, or other limes if you can't these 2, lemon and, as a last resort, white wine or rice vinegar
- 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- ⅛ big red chilli, sliced Substitute: Bird's eye chilli is traditional but it's spicier so I used something milder to accommodate younger children and the elderly. (Personally I prefer the smaller bird's eye chilli/ chilli padi though!)
- ⅛ big green chilli, sliced Added for colour, feel free to omit
- sliced onions or shallots, optional
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together.
- You can use it straight away or leave to infuse for 10 minutes first.
- You can immediately enjoy calamansi soy sauce with your dumplings etc or pour it over your meat/ fish to marinade.
Cherry says
Had this for dinner as needed to use up some soggy chillies, was amazing with panfried tofu. thanks, will definitely make this more often