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Grilled Thai Pork Tenderloins on a white plate.
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5 from 15 votes

Thai Pork Basil Skewers

Thai Pork Basil Skewers is a delicious turmeric and ginger spiced pork tenderloin skewers with an amazing Prik Nam Pla sauce that will tantalize your sweet, sour, salty and spicy taste buds.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Marinate Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 25 minutes
Course: Mains
Cuisine: Thai
Servings: 4
Calories: 294kcal
Author: HWC Magazine

Equipment

  • Blender or mortar and pestle

Ingredients

Marinade

  • 1.5 inch turmeric
    knob peeled and sliced (or 1 heaping teaspoon ground dried turmeric)
  • 1 inch ginger knob peeled and sliced (or ½ teaspoon ground dried ginger)
  • ¾ cup onion or 1 small onion chopped (can exchange with shallots, if you like)
  • 2 cloves garlic peeled and bashed
  • ¼ cup fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1.5 pounds pork tenderloin
    cut into slices about ¼ inch thick (or can use other cuts of pork that you wish but may have to marinate longer)
  • 10-12 wooden skewers
    soak in water for ½ hour before using

Thai Basil Dipping Sauce (or Prik Nam Pla)

  • 1 tablespoon Thai holy basil
    (holy basil) chopped or can use regular basil
  • 1 tablespoon cilantro
    (coriander) chopped
  • 2 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 2 teaspoon sugar or sugar alternative - (brown sugar or sugar alternative if diabetic)
  • 4 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 clove garlic
    peeled and minced
  • chili to taste (fresh Thai bird chilis pack their punch in heat)

Garnishes

  • limes optional
  • chili optional
  • green onions or cilantro optional

Instructions

  • Marinate the pork: In a food processor, add turmeric, ginger, onion, garlic, fish sauce and coconut oil. Blend well. (If you do not have a food processor you can do this in a mortar and pestle or just chop up finely instead) In a sealable baggie or sealed container add your sliced pork tenderloins pieces and add the turmeric marinade and mix well, cover and place in the refrigerator for up to overnight or at least one half hour marinade time.
    Spoonful of turmeric marinade over the food processor.
  • Make Thai Basil Dipping Sauce: In a small bowl add chopped Thai basil (or regular basil), chopped cilantro, fish sauce, brown sugar or sugar alternative, lime juice, garlic and chili to taste. Set Aside or place in refrigerator up to 24 hours in advance.
    Thai Basil dipping sauce.
  • Soak your wooden skewers for at least ½ hour. Skewer the pork lengthwise like you are using the wooden skewer to sew on the pork. Spread the pork slices flat so they are not overlapping. Depending on the size of your skewer and pork slices, maybe only 2 slices of pork tenderloin per skewer.
    Marinated pork getting placed on wooden skewers.
  • Prepare and oil your grill and preheat. Cook your turmeric pork skewers for about 3 minutes on each side until nicely charred and cooked through.
    Turmeric Pork Skewers on the grill.
  • Serve your delicious Turmeric Pork skewers & Thai Basil Dipping Sauce as a delicious healthy meal. Enjoy!
    Thai pork Skewers perfectly grilled on a white plate next to a bowl of Thai basil dipping sauce.

Video

Notes

The Thai Basil Dipping Sauce is essentially our delicious Prik Nam Pla sauce but with Thai Basil instead of cilantro. Thai Basil can be hard to come by outside of Asia. Please exchange with regular Italian basil or just make our delicious Prik Nam Pla: The Incredible Thai Table Condiment. 
There is one small warning when using turmeric is it can stains clothes, kitchen counters, finger nails and even utensils if you do not clean them right away.
We don't normally wear an apron in the kitchen but when we are cooking with turmeric, we do. In addition, we use gloves when threading the turmeric pork on the skewers so it does not stain your finger nails. If you wash you hands well right away you will probably be okay, if you prefer not to wear gloves. 
So how do you get turmeric off the countertop and clothes... bleach is the answer to that one. 
Sometimes we use fresh turmeric in the recipe. Dried ground turmeric and ginger work just fine in this recipe too.
We used pork tenderloin for this recipe. However, you can use other cuts of pork as well but you may want to marinate longer or up to overnight. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 294kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 37g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 111mg | Sodium: 1936mg | Potassium: 798mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 26IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 2mg