This is my take on an all-purpose marinade for meat and veggie kabobs. You can always do straight veggie kabobs also, delicious either way. Depending on the meat you prefer, the marinade time will change. Beef, chicken, pork, lamb, or even something more exotic like duck, buffalo, or ostrich would all work really well with this marinade. If you are using poultry, especially chicken, keep the marinade time to 1-4 hours or so. For pork I would recommend 6-8 hours, and of course beef or lamb can be marinated overnight or up to a day or so. Just depends on how strong of a flavor you'd prefer.
Makes about 3 cups, maybe a little more.
· 1.5 cups oil [EVOO, Canola, or Safflower]
· 3/4 cup low-sodium Soy sauce
· 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
· 1/2 cup Rice vinegar
· 1/4 cup Teriyaki or Ponzu sauce
· 1/4 cup Honey [Cactus Honey Powder also works]
· 1.5 Tbsp Garlic powder
· 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
· 1 tsp Seasoned salt [Lawry's, etc]
· 1 tsp ground Black pepper
· 1 tsp Chili powder
· 1/2 tsp Cayenne powder
· 1/2 tsp Cumin powder
· 2 small green onions [chopped]
Combine acids and sauces with seasonings and whisk. Whisk in the honey, followed by the oil. Or, just toss in the blender and give it a few quick pulses. The extra marinade can be refrigerated for 2 or 3 days after mixing.
I like to use red and green bell pepper, button mushrooms, red or white onion, pineapple chunks, and 1" cubes of the meat. You'll want to roughly cubed the veggies slightly larger than the meat so that everything cooks evenly.
Chicken is easiest, but do yourself a favor and pick up the pork tenderloin, it's well worth it. A good start is 2 bell peppers, 12-15 medium button mushrooms, and 1-2 large onions. I usually take the easy road and just buy the prepared pineapple cubes. Using these ratios I estimate about 2 pounds or so of meat. Any extras can be stand-alone kabobs, sometimes I like to just make straight mushroom skewers. For easier handling, the half length bamboo skewers are nice. Remember to soak them in water for an hour or so prior to skewering everything.
Two ways to do this, the easiest is to assemble your skewers, then snip the sharp points off and put the whole thing into a big Ziploc bag with at least a cup of the marinade. Lay it over, and squeeze out as much of the air as possible, seal and toss to coat. I like to flip the bag over a few times during the marinade process.
Obviously, kabobs are meant for the grill, but you'll want to let give the skewers a quick shake to rid them of excess marinade to prevent flare-ups or charred spots. Again, depending on the meat choice, the cooking time will vary somewhat, but I like to grill them over medium-medium high heat, turning every 3-4 minutes until evenly cooked.
