Pork Satay With Vegetables and Thai Coconut Yogurt Dressing
Slabs of pork tenderloin are marinated satay style, brushed with the coconut milk based, spice infused marinade while grilling, then topped with a unique coconut cucumber yogurt dressing and satay sauce.
Servings: 4 see notes
Calories: 487kcal
Equipment
- 1 outdoor grill sub broiler or indoor grill appliance
Ingredients
Pork for satay
- 1 pound pork tenderloin or a bit over a pound, as they often are - see notes
Vegetables for satay (see notes)
- 1/2 purple cabbage sliced into 1/2" slabs
- 4 spring (young) onions sub small onion any type or scallions (green onions) - see notes
- 1 tbsp olive oil to drizzle on veggie slabs before grilling
Satay Marinade
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 4 tsps lime juice fresh squeezed, to taste
- 4 tsps brown sugar sub coconut sugar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp turmeric see notes
- 1 tsp ginger see notes
- 1 tsp curry see notes
- 1 tsp garam masala see notes
Slurry
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp water
Coconut Yogurt Cucumber Dressing
- 1 cup cucumbers I use baby w/skins on
- 1/2 cup greek non-fat yogurt sub whole milk and/or regular yogurt
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 lime juiced
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsps fresh basil chopped
- 2 tbsps fresh cilantro chopped, sub parsley
- a few slices of pickled or sweet/sour jalapenos sub 1/2 fresh jalapeno finely minced.
Optional side: serve with cooked jasmine rice if desired.
Instructions
Make Satay Marinade - 5 min
- Mix 1 cup coconut milk,4 tsps lime juice,4 tsps brown sugar,1 tsp sea salt,1 tsp turmeric,1 tsp ginger,1 tsp curry,1 tsp garam masala in a bowl and whisk for a bit to dissolve the sugar.
- Divide the marinade in two. Put half aside to create a finishing sauce at end of recipe. Keep the other half nearby to marinate the pork and veggies, and brush over veggies when on the grill.
Make Coconut Cucumber Dressing - 10 min
- Chop the 1 cup cucumbers and mix all the dressing ingredients together (1/2 cup greek non-fat yogurt, 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1 lime , 1 tsp white sugar, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 2 tbsps fresh basil, 2 tbsps fresh cilantro, and choppeda few slices of pickled or sweet/sour jalapenos in a bowl and let chill while you finish the prep.
Prepare pork for marinating - 10 min
- Cut 1 pound pork tenderloin in thirds, across the length (see photo in post)
- Cut each third into 4 slices, lengthwise (the opposite way from how you cut it into thirds) to create four rectangular (ish) 1/4" thick slabs from each third.
- Mix 1/4 of the marinade (as mentioned above) w/the pork and refrigerate while you finish prepping the veggies.
Prepare Veggies - marinate and skewer - 20 min, see notes
- Clean and cut 1/2 purple cabbage, and 4 spring (young) onions (or regular onions) into 1/4" (ish) thick slabs.
- Skewer the veggies, by threading through the slabs as per photos. This isn't always easy with raw vegetables, but the flat slabs hold a lot of marinade which makes for a tasty and pretty dish.
- Lay on sheet pan, brush or drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil , then brush both sides with another 1/4 of the marinade. (leave some to brush on the meat and veggies when being grilled).
Make the pork skewers - 5-10 min
- Remove the marinated pork from the fridge and thread 2-4 pieces, lengthwise (for flat skewers of meat) on each skewer, depending on the size of your skewers. Take care to keep the slabs stretched out on the skewers versus bunching the meat up.
Make finish satay sauce (thicken with slurry) - 5 min
- Heat small pan on medium with the other half of the marinade you put aside.
- Once it comes to a low simmer, add the slurry (whisk 1 tsp cornstarch and 2 tbsp water together to form the slurry), and whisk continuously for a few minutes until slightly thickened. Set aside until serving.
Grill the skewers of pork and vegetables - 20 min
- Heat outside bbq grill to high, and lay the veggie skewers on hot grill. Brush with more marinade, and close grill cover. Cook 5 minutes, then turn and repeat. The veggie skewers will cook a bit more - see next step.
- Once veggies have cooked 10 min, move to edges and grill pork skewers, 5 min per side. Since there is no oil in the marinade I recommend wiping the grill with oil, or brush a bit of oil on the pork before laying to grill. As with the veggies, brush the remaining marinade on the pork as you cook it.
- Serve up with the cucumber dressing and satay sauce drizzled over the top of the dish and/or served on the side. Add cooked rice to the plates if you are super hungry!
Notes
Satay vegetables- I've chosen specific vegetables that I feel work well in slabs on skewers, but any vegetable you can thread on a skewer as a slab versus a chunk will work such as zucchini, summer squash, or portobello mushrooms.
Spices- in place of the listed spices, you can use 1-2 tbsp of my Versatile Curry Spice Mix.
Servings- this recipe is written as serving 4 with one pork tenderloin, yielding 1/4 lb per person. Scale up or down depending on how many you typically serve with one pork tenderloin.
Nutrition
Calories: 487kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 75mg | Sodium: 861mg | Potassium: 1364mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin C: 84mg | Calcium: 178mg | Iron: 5mg | Magnesium: 115mg | Net Carbohydrates: 38g