BY
I’ve been on a skewers kick lately. I think we’ve established the fact that food on a stick is fun, and skewers are great because you can get a whole little meal proportioned out in single servings. Don’t be scared by the word “Indian” (admit it, some of you are!) This is every day stuff you probably already have in your cabinet. I love these flavors together and it was a great way to use up the pork tenderloin I had left over from making this recipe. I’ve made this with chicken too and it was great, but I think I actually prefer the pork! This is a great quick and easy summer time dinner.
Indian Spiced Pork Skewers
1 1/2-2lbs pork tenderloin or sirloin pork roast
2 red bell peppers
1 large onion
1 T pressed garlic (or minced and use the tip below)
1 T curry powder
1 1/2 t kosher salt (much less if you’re using table salt, but you shouldn’t be using table salt!)
1/2 T cumin
1/2 T coriander
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T water
Cut your pork into 1 1/2″ chunks and place in a zip-lock bag. Prepare peppers and onions by chopping into squares as well and then store in the fridge.
Press garlic into a small bowl. Here’s a great tip if you don’t own a garlic press and you want your garlic finer than a mince. Start by peeling the cloves by smashing them first. Mince them up and then pour the kosher salt right over it. Use a large knife to smash and mush and the kosher salt will break up the garlic making it into a nice paste. Works great!
Mix the garlic and salt in a small bowl with the cumin, curry, and coriander and cayenne.
Add fresh lemon juice (not bottled!) and olive oil and stir it all up.
Pour spice mixture in the zip-lock bag with the pork. Seal bag, give it a good smoosh, and then let it sit in the fridge for 3-4 hours (longer is just fine)
Before skewering make sure to soak bamboo skewers in water for 20-30 minutes. Thread on pork chunks and alternate with red pepper and onion.
Grill on a preheated med heat grill for about 10 minutes total. Rotate them often to avoid burning. If you’ve cut your pork chunks an inch or smaller, they’ll be done pretty fast. Don’t overcook!
Pile them on a platter and serve hot. They’d be great with a side of Kate’s coconut rice!
I get about 12 skewers each time.
Enjoy!
One of my best friends is Indian, so I've eaten quite a bit of Indian food. My all time favorites are Chicken Tikka Masala and Buttered Chicken. They're very similar, depending on who's making it. At our local Indian restaurant, I like the Tikka Masala better. And with some Garlic Nan bread…YUM! I crave it almost as much as I crave sushi.
Oh, we love Indian Food we had it last night. If any one is in Provo they must drive directly to the Bombay House. He don't get much Indian Food out in Oklahoma except what I make at home. We like Tikka Masala quite a bit, not sure how "authentic" it is, but quite enjoyable. I usually make some naan with it, which is always yummy. I am looking forward to this recipe, just purchased some pork on sale.
We LOVE Indian food! My hubby's fave is Chicken Tikka Masala. Here's my version:
http://wherefloursbloom.blogspot.com/2008/10/chicken-tikka-masala-also-known-as-how.html
We love it best with Peshwari Naan:
http://wherefloursbloom.blogspot.com/2008/10/peshwari-naan-indian-flat-bread-loaded.html
Really, you've got to try it! And if you ever come down this way, give me a heads up and I'll make you a batch.
I've never had real Indian food either but all the flavors in this recipe sound super good. I love curry flavor.
Sara, would it be absolutely horrible without the curry in it? I've had allergic reactions to curry in the past and don't want to take any chances, but I think this would be a great way to use some of the pork roasts I have in the freezer.
Britanie- curry is definitely an important ingredient here- but I'm sure it would still be tasty without it. Give it a shot and let us know how it is!
Indian food is my absolute favorite. I will eat Samosas any time any place, but some of my other favorites are alou ghobi, channa masala, or Palak Paneer. Nothing is better than Masala Dosa though. I occasionally make an alou ghobi type dish at home, but mostly I find its not worth trying to make Indian at home because its never as good. That doesn't keep me from putting turmeric and garam masala in plenty of stuff though 🙂
Oh, Indian food is my favorite cuisine. I could just die happy every time I eat it. We found a great place here in Boise, they even have a lunch buffet so you can try lots of different things at once. Amazing!
Being half Indian, I have had plenty of authentic YUMMY Indian food. This looks good-might try it! Bombay House in Provo is YUMMY but according to my Indian dad, not very authentic. He said it has been "Americanized". So yummy though
I love making Indian food! Chicken Korma is my absolute favorite along with some Naan and (my Americanized) mango chutney…I'm in heaven!
I'm also a big fan of Tandoori chicken with black pepper rice. Dang, now I'm gettin' hungry!
We had this dish last night, and it was amazing!! I served basmati rice and acorn squash. Loved it! This will definitely be making a regular appearance at our house. Thanks for sharing!
Is it possible to bake these in the oven? We have over a foot of snow here and I am NOT about to fire up the BBQ…
anyone?
Julie- yes, you could do it in the oven. I'd pop them under the broiler (but not at the very highest rack) or bake them at 425. You could also do them on an indoor grill pan. Be careful with wood skewers in the oven though- make sure to soak them first!
phew. Thanks Sara. You saved the day
We love Indian food too and my husband's favorite is Basil Coconut Chicken Curry (found here http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2009/09/basil-chicken-in-coconut-curry-sauce.html ) Thanks for another great idea–can't wait to try these!
These look absolutely fabulous! I'll be making these for dinner tomorrow night! Thanks ladies for the great recipes. I'm really diggin this site.
Thanks for this recipe! I've never had Indian food but I've been wanting to try it. I made these last night and they were pretty good. I marinated them for a long time (about 7 hours) and they were a little too strong. I think that, next time, I will marinate them for less time and cut back on the curry amount a bit.
I really liked this recipe. I added mushrooms to the skewers and thought they were really great with it. I love the curry flavor, but also likes that it was a mild curry. I agree that the coconut rice is excellent with it.
I’m really excited to try this recipe! I recently became obsessed with Indian flavors after making tikki masala for the first time. I used the recipe out of the Sriracha Cookbook by Randy Clemens. It’s AH-mazing…a little spicy, but I put a dollop of plain yogurt on the top to cool it down 🙂
I wanted to hop on here to let you ladies know that this is one of the recipes that didn’t transfer over to your app (I’m sure you’ve already been made aware). This is one of my favorite recipes on your site because it’s so flavorful and versatile. I use it on a full pork tenderloin rather than skewers because I’m too lazy to cube and skewer my meat when I can just grill it whole. 😉 but it works great on other things too. I do it with chicken served w lentils and brown rice, and my favorite is actually on shrimp with a little extra lemon served with saffron rice and garlic wilted spinach. We’ve done a lot of variations, but this marinade always always always works. Love it!
How effing whitebread do you have to be, to be “scared by the word ‘Indian'”?? ROFL! That said, this recipe looks delicious, I’ve got to try it soon.