Jerk paste is something that once you learn to make once, you will be forever indebted to that ethereal balance of smoky and spice, the zest and fragrance of all things Caribbean. I know when the sauce comes together it might not look like much, it is when it starts to get a bit of heat and real charcoal smoke that the flavours really come alive.
All your mouth watering ingredients.
First you want to make up the jerk paste that will marinade the pork kebabs. Start by finely dicing the chillies.
Crush the garlic.
Finely chop the coriander stalks and keep the leaves to one side.
Chop up the ginger.
Zest the lime.
Add the chillies, garlic, coriander stalk, ginger and lime zest into a blender.
To this add the juice from the lime, about two or three tablespoons of sunflower oil and a drop of hot water to help emulsify everything together.
Blend baby, blend.
When everything is well blitzed, roughly chop up the coriander leaves and add them to your jerk paste.
You are now ready to marinade, slice the tenderloin in half lengthways down the middle, then again, making four long fillets of loin.
Weave these fillets onto wooden skewers (soak them in water for about twenty minutes to avoid them burning like mine) or the longer metal ones if you have them.
Set them on a large sheet of double layered, heavy duty tin foil. I used the container the fillet came in to help keep hold of the marinade.
Pour all of the marinade over the skewers and make sure they are well covered.
Wrap up the kebabs well in the foil and marinade for about 2 hours, turning after one hour to make sure there is an even covering.
When they are done marinating grill them for about three to four minutes on each side in whatever fashion you see fit. For me, nothing beats charcoal and good old wood smoke.
Enjoy!
This is a fantastic take on the slow pimiento smoked pork of the Caribbean. The paste here could easily be smothered over chicken or fish as well and makes a great addition to a BBQ sauce.
