Kebabs and Jenga

Armenian Entree

PORK KEBABS WITH POMEGRANATE MARINADE

INGREDIENTS

1¾ cups pomegranate juice
1 pound boneless pork loin
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¾ teaspoon pepper
¾ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1¼ teaspoons oregano
1 small onion

SPECIAL UTENSILS

skewers
outdoor grill

Serves 4. Takes 4 hours.

PREPARATION

Add pomegranate juice to pan. Bring to boil using medium-high heat. Stir frequently. Reduce heat to low-medium. Simmer for 25 minutes or until or until pomegranate juice reduces to 1 cup of syrup. Stir enough to prevent clumping Cut pork into 1″ cubes. Add pork cubes, pomegranate syrup, garlic powder, pepper, salt, olive oil, and oregano to mixing bowl. Mix with fork until cubes are completely coated. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours. (Reserve the marinade.)

While pork cubes marinate, slice onion into 1″ squares. Add 1 pork cube and 1 onion square onto skewer until skewer is full. Repeat for each skewer until pork and onion is gone. Set grill to medium-high. Grill for 15 minutes or until pork cubes start to char and are no longer pink inside. Rotate 3 times.

Place skewers on serving plate. Add reserved marinade to pot. Simmer on medium heat until marinade is warm. Transfer marinade to 1 dipping bowl per guest.

TIDBITS

1) Early Armenians used to make a game out of eating their Pork Kebabs. Players would alternate pulling off a cube of pork or a square of onion off their skewers. Anyone who made the rest of the pork and onion fall off lost. The game always ended in a tie. Nothing falls off a skewer. Then the clever Leslie Scott invented the ever popular game, JengaTM. The Jenga tower of wooden blocks can easily fall down, making it a much more exciting game. But, you can’t eat Jenga. There is a trade off.

Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.