Spiced Pork Kebabs

This recipe was inspired by Jamie Oliver's "Pork Kebabs" from his book, Ministry of Food. When making kebabs, always ensure that your ingredients are cut to roughly the same size and thickness so that everything cooks evenly. Kebabs are so versatile in the way that you can either grill, barbecue or roast them, and experiment with different combinations of meat and vegetables. There are endless possibilities - chicken, beef, lamb, sausage, prawn, fish, tofu, mushrooms, capsicum, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, pineapple and onion, just to name a few!

Serves 4:

- 800g pork fillet

- 16 small mushrooms

- 2 zucchinis

- 1 medium red onion

- ½ cup rosemary leaves

- 2 lemons

- 2 tsp ground cumin

- 2 tsp ground paprika

- Sea salt and cracked black pepper

- Olive oil

- 2 tsp runny honey

- 8 skewers

If you're using wooden skewers, trim them down so that they fit into your griddle/frying pan and soak them in water for at least 30 minutes so they don't burn. Slice the pork into roughly 2 cm pieces. Cut the stalks off the mushrooms and, depending on their size, either leave them whole or cut into chunks the same size as the meat. Trim the zucchinis, slice length ways if they are very large and cut into portions like the mushrooms. Peel and half the onion, then quarter each half. Zest the lemons and finely chop with the rosemary. Mix with the cumin  and paprika and season well.

Scatter the spice mixture over a clean work surface such as a chopping board, flat plate or bench top. Drizzle the meat, mushrooms and onions with olive oil and roll them in the mixture. Skewer a piece of pork, followed by a piece of onion, mushroom and zucchini, and repeat until all the pieces have been used. Don't squeeze them too tightly on the skewers - if you leave little spaces, it means the steam and heat can get in there and cook everything. Drizzle the kebabs with oil and season again with salt and pepper.

While you are finishing off preparing the kebabs, preheat a griddle/frying pan on a high heat for 5 minutes. Then put your kebabs on the hot griddle and push them down gently. Cook for about 8 minutes in total, turning every 2 minutes so that you cook all four sides, until everything is golden, slightly charred and the pork is cooked through (use a sharp knife to cut into it and check it's ready). Once the pork's done, give the kebabs a generous squeeze of lemon juice and a tiny drizzle of honey. Cook for another 30 seconds, turning as you go.

To serve, put your kebabs on a plate and drizzle them with the lovely juices from the pan. Serve with lemon wedges and anything from dips, salsas, sour cream to salad, bread or rice.

 Spiced Pork Kebabs