Sometimes we hit a bit of a cooking block and we get tired of the same old flavours. Try this exciting Marinated Lemongrass Infused Grilled Pork Belly Skewers for a flavour boost! These Asian flavoured skewers are perfect as a starter or even as part of your main meal.
Marinade or Dipping Sauce?
Why choose? The marinade complements the pork belly so well that we decided to use it as a dipping sauce too! The most prominent taste in this recipe is, of course, the lemongrass. The fragrance and flavour are quite lemony but sweet at the same time. The cinnamon barks, brown sugar, and rice wine vinegar add to the sweetness of the sauce. The Asian influence really comes through when the fish and soy sauce is added. This is when those fresh flavours blend beautifully with the sharper and warmer flavours. Feel free to add more or less sriracha, depending on your spice palette.
Time To Get Grilling
The secret with these grilled pork belly skewers is the pop of fresh green onion in between each slice of pork. If you’re a bit confused about green onions, here’s a tip: green onions and scallions are the same, but spring onions are different.
When you are ready to move over to the grill, be sure to have a timer or watch with you. It is important that you follow the grilling times as to not burn your delicious skewers. As you turn your skewers every 30 seconds or so, remember to also continuously baste the meat with marinade every 10 minutes. Remember to keep some of the marinade as a delicious add on to your lemongrass-infused grilled pork belly skewers!
Chef’s Tip For Bamboo Skewers
Always remember to soak your bamboo skewers in water before you put them on the grill. The minimum time it takes for the bamboo to really soak up the water is 30 minutes. If you have the time, however, try to soak them for as long as possible. The water will ensure that your bamboo skewers don’t burn up on the grill.
If you loved the flavour base of this dish, be sure to check out our Asian-Inspired Shrimp Skewers recipe!
Marinated and Grilled Pork Belly Skewers infused with Lemongrass
Ingredients
- 1 ½ kg pork belly – skin removed.
- 12 green onions
- 12 bamboo skewers soaked in water for at least 30 minutes
Marinade and dipping sauce
- 2 cups water
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 4 stalks of lemongrass, tender parts only chopped
- 2 cinnamon barks
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp fish sauce
- 4 tsp sriracha
- 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
Instructions
Marinade
- Combine the lemongrass, sugar, cinnamon bark and water in a small saucepan then bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Strain into a bowl and chill in the deep freeze.
- Remove when chilled, add the fish sauce, soy, black pepper and sriracha and stir well and set aside.
- Prep your pork belly and slice the pork belly lengthwise into slices then cut the slices in half.
- Now cut each slice into cubes, ensuring that you have 3 cubes for each skewer.
- Combine the pork with the marinade and refrigerate for 1 to 4 hours or longer.
- Make the dipping sauce and remove the pork from the marinade then set aside.
- Pour the marinade into a small saucepan then bring to a boil.
- Let simmer for 1 minute.
- This process is ensuring you sterilise your marinade to make the dipping sauce.
- Just do not skip this process, this is especially important.
- Strain the marinade into a bowl and stir in the rice vinegar and set aside.
Make the grilled pork skewers
- Take your time, as this can be quite tricky, thread a piece of pork onto a skewer, then a piece of green onion, (cut in the same length as the pork cube).
- Repeat with another piece of pork and green onion.
- Finish with the 3rd piece of pork then repeat until skewers are done.
- Set aside.
- Barbecue the skewers on a clean grill over a hot fire, turning every 30 seconds and basting with the marinate sauce every few minutes for about 10 minutes or more, when you think they need more cooking set them alongside the grill for less heat area to prevent burning.
- This will ensure they are super tender.
- Serve with the marinade/dipping sauce.