Grilled beef and pork served in skewers is one of my favorite dishes to order at Cambodian and Vietnamese restaurants - so I was looking forward to this dish. Alas, it wasn't what I imagined. The thick marinade didn't really provide much flavor and while the result was completely inoffensive, my kids ate it without complaint, it wasn't compelling. I don't think I'd made them again.

I followed the recipe pretty closely - my only issue was with the coconut. I wasn't able to find unsweetened grated coconut (though they had frozen unsweetened coconut at a local Asian store), so I bought a coconut instead. Leaving aside how hard it was to open the damned thing, it turned out that it was too young and the meat was very soft. I scrapped it out and put it in the food processor together with the other marinade ingredients, rather than grating it and mixing it in, but I doubt that made a difference in the flavor.

I grilled the pork skewers in my George Foreman grill - for about 4 minutes. The instructions for the original recipe say to grill them for 15-20 minutes - which I think would probably be excessive. I'd probably cut the time by half.

Note that if you are using wooden skewers you need to soak them in water for 20 minutes before using them.

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Khmer Coconut Pork Skewers

Ingredients

• 1 stalk lemon grass, sliced
• 1 shallot, coarsely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves
• zest of 1 lime, grated
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 3 oz water
• meat from one coconut
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 lb pork, cubed

Instructions

In a food processor, combine all the marinade ingredients into a paste. Place the pork in a bowl and add the marinade, coat well and leave to marinade at room temperature for one hour.

Preheat the grill to hot. Thread the pork cubes onto the skewers and grill until done, turning frequently.

Adapted from a recipe at Asia Recipe.com