Pork and lemongrass skewers recipe

These mildly spiced pork kebabs are threaded onto stalks of lemon grass which, when barbecued, will add an extra fragrant flavour. You’ll need to pick quite sturdy woody stalks to hold the minced mixture in place and make sure to shape it around the stalks into thin sausage shapes so that the kebabs cook quickly and evenly. If lemon grass stalks are not available just use thick wooden skewers instead. For a more fiery flavour replace the green chilli with 2 thin red chilli peppers or add 2tsp Thai red curry paste instead.

Ingredients

• 9 lemon grass stalks
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 1 green chilli pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2tbsp chopped fresh coriander
• 600g lean minced pork
• 1tbsp light soy sauce
• 2tsp caster sugar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1tbsp sunflower oil
• Hoi sin sauce or chilli tomato ketchup, to serve

Method

1. Finely chop one of the lemon grass stalks and place in a food processor with the spring onions, garlic, chilli and coriander. Process until finely minced.
2. Add the mince, soy sauce, sugar and plenty of salt and freshly ground black pepper and process for a further few seconds until the mixture is thoroughly combined.
3. Divide the mixture into 8 and shape each into an oval patty. Wrap each patty tightly around a lemon grass stalk moulding the patty into a sausage shape. Cover and chill for at least 30mins.
4. Place the skewers on a medium-hot barbecue, brush lightly with oil and cook for about 15mins, turning frequently until browned all over and cooked through. Serve with hoi sin or chilli tomato ketchup.