Grilled Plum and Pork Kebabs are a perfect casual summer meal. Summer is not over yet. I'm planning on keeping it going as long as possible and I'm still grilling and I'm making these skewers of succulent pork and juicy plums.
History of the Kebab
Did you know that kebabs originated in Turkey, as shish kebabs? The words "shish kebab" literally mean "skewer of roast meat". However, you can find skewers of roasted meat in the cuisines of many cultures. Think satay in the Orient, souvlaki in Greece, or brochettes in France. Here's a great article about the Origins Of The Shish Kebab. Whatever you call them, kebabs are an easy and delicious way to grill or roast meats, and veggies, too.
Summer is all about grilling. We love cooking out on the grill and coming up with new ways to do it. Since everyone loves food on a stick, these plummy pork skewers are perfect for a party snack or, for the main meal served with a salad and rice. Kebabs are a fun way to be creative on the grill.
But you don't have to wait for summer to make these plum and pork kebabs. You can cook them on an indoor grill, under the broiler, or even on the stovetop.
Sweet & Savory Ingredients are perfect for Grilling together
In keeping with my summer fruit theme, I made an Asian Plum Sauce, but still had some plums left over, so they got skewered up and went on the grill with the pork and some red onion. The plum sauce turned out to be a perfect dipping sauce for the grilled pork & plum kebabs.
I'm using black plums, also called Japanese plums, for this recipe. But any variety of plum will be just as good. This summer I've been having fun using all of our area's seasonal fruit bounty in savoury dishes, like pizza with balsamic cherries, chicken with red currant sauce, and an arugula salad with grilled apricots. For these kebabs, I marinated the pork and the plums together. The Asian inspired marinade is tangy and slightly sweet with just a hint of spice.
Grilled Plum and Pork Kebabs
Ingredients
- ¼ cup tamari or soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 clove garlic minced or crushed
- 1 3" knob of ginger peeled and grated
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 lb pork tenderloin cubed
- 8 black or purple plums halved and pitted
- 1 red onion quartered and divided into slices
- Chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaved parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Whisk first 8 ingredients together for the marinade, and pour into a zip lock bag.
- Add pork and plums. Seal and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.
- Heat grill to high.
- Divided between 8 soaked wooden skewers, or metal ones, thread pork, plums, and onion.
- Lightly oil grill. Grill, covered, about 6 minutes, turning often, until pork is no longer pink inside.
- Garnish with cilantro or parsley
- Serve with Asian Plum Sauce for dipping.
Notes
Nutrition
I need neighbours like that with plum trees. Looks delicious as always and beautiful photography and food styling colleen. thanks for sharing.
Thanks Dina! I know, we are pretty lucky!
Pork and plum is one of my favourite flavour combinations - bookmarked!
Thanks Mardi, me too. Enjoy!
Oh my goodness! These pork and plum kebabs look mouthwatering delicious!! Gorgeous photos Colleen 🙂
Thanks so much, Marisa! Have a great long weekend!
Colleen, I am a BIG fan of cooking with fruit, and I think stone fruit might be my favourite. I love the Asian flavours in here too - they go so well with plums. I've got to try this before we're out of plums!
Thanks Sean! I've kind of made it my theme this summer and it's been really fun (and delicious :-))
Oh wow Colleen! These look absolutely drool worthy! I need to get some fresh BC plums to give this a try!
Thank you so much, Kimberley! They were pretty simple, but yummy.