Pork Skewers with Thai Dipping Sauce

Australian cuisine is heavily influenced by both Asian and Indian cuisine.  Since living here, my appreciation (and tolerance!) for spice has gone way up!  Ingredients which us North Americans may find somewhat exotic are readily available here.  I've enjoyed experimenting with these ingredients and styles.

My previous boss's wife is from Thailand and we have been lucky enough to experience her traditional thai cuisine, it's delicious!  She has shared some recipes with me and Glenn continues to replenish my supply of hot thai chiles, which brings me to last night's dinner.

Using some of these delicious (and hot!) chiles, I decided to make grilled pork skewers with a thai style dipping sauce accompanied by coconut rice.  It was fantastic!  It took me a couple tries to come up with a sauce that I was satisfied with but I think the end result was great!  See below for the recipes:

Thai Pork Skewers

• 1 kg pork, cut into cubes*
• wooden skewers

Marinade:

• 1/2 c. soy sauce
• 1/2 c. oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp cilantro, leaves and stems chopped
• 1 tbsp palm sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 thai chiles, seeded, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Dipping Sauce:

• 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 tsp palm sugar
• 2 thai chilies, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger, grated
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp shallot, chopped
• handful cilantro, chopped

* I prefer to get pre-diced pork from the butcher, makes life much easier!

1) Soak wooden skewers for atleast 30 minutes to avoid burning.  Combine all ingredients for marinade and marinate pork for 1-4 hours in refridgerator. 
2) Combine all ingrediens for dipping sauce and let sit at room temperature while pork marinates
3) Skewer pork cubes and grill over high heat until slightly charred on outside and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side.
4) Garnish with fresh cilantro if desired and serve pork with dipping sauce


Coconut Rice

• 1 1/2 cups long grain rice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 can light coconut milk
• large handful cilantro, leaves and stemps chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• salt to taste

1) Combine rice, water and milk in large sauce pan and bring to boil
2) Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until almost all liquid is absorved
3) Let sit and steam for atleast 5 minutes.
4) Fluff with fork, stir in cilantro and onion, and season with salt to taste.

Try experimenting with some new ingredients and let me know how it goes!  You'll get used to their flavors and how to make your own new combinations!