Some months ago, Nigerian food blogger Funmi of The Village Pot decided to come to Kenya to experience the food scene. She called upon food bloggers in the country to give her a taste of our country. Wangeci, food blogger at African Kaya and myself were available so we gladly took her under our wings. We decided to take her to The Carnivore, which as the name suggests, is a place that show cases how we Kenyans absolutely love our grilled meat in all its splendor. Some of the meat served included beef, crocodile, duck, lamb, pork, turkey and many others I do not remember since I was busy pigging out. My favorite was the grilled pork ribs which were paired with a fruit salsa. I just could not have enough! It is on that night that I realized with absolute clarity how well pork goes with sweet flavors. You can read about this entire experience from her blog here.
This recipe was not only created with the backdrop of that awesome night, but also inspired by my friend and fellow food blogger Wangeci. Since plums, and plenty of other sweet fruits are in season, what better time to make this juicy pork dish than now?!
PREP TIME: 24 HOURS COOK TIME:45 MIN SERVES: 4
Ingredients:
For the marinade:
12 plums, seeded and blended
1/4 teaspoon of dried sage
5 cloves of garlic, minced
Other Ingredients
1/2 kg of pork
1 red onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a thumb sized ginger root, minced
1 small birds eye chilli, chopped
4 teaspoons of honey
2 tomatoes, blended
1 tablespoon of dark mushroom soy sauce
1/2 a teaspoon of black pepper
Salt to taste
Vegetable oil for frying (optional)
Coriander for garnish, finely chopped
Method
Cut up your pork into bite sized pieces and put it in a sealable container. Seed and blend your plums and pour this into the container containing the pork. Add the sage and the minced garlic cloves. Mix it all up and seal the container. Allow this to marinate overnight. Mine marinated for two days and this just amplified the flavor! The longer the marination time, the more intense the flavor. Ensure your plums are ripe and sweet. In case you do not have pork, you can substitute it with any other sweet succulent fruit. If you are not too sure which fruit to use, feel free to ask me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Do not put bananas in your pork and wonder why it backfired. Just ask me, I do not bite, promise!
After the marination is done, pour all the content of the container in a pan. Do not add water or stock. Allow this to simmer down on medium low heat until it dries up.
Further allow the pork to render in its own fat until it browns and is cooked through. As that is going, mash your garlic ginger and chilli together until it forms a paste and set aside.
After your pork is cooked through, add your finely chopped onion, black pepper and the chilli-ginger-garlic paste. Mix it in and let this cook down for about 5 minutes. If you feel the oil in the pork is not enough, you can always add some more. But usually, it is more than enough.
Add the grated tomatoes and soy sauce. Let this cook down for about 5-7 minutes. Add the honey and mix it in. Taste the pork to ascertain whether it had reached your preferred level of sweet-spicy. If not, you can adjust accordingly.
Once you are done, add your finely chopped coriander and plate.
Lock yourself in your closet and eat all this delicious plum marinated spicy pork all by yourself. Serve and share the joy that is this amazing dish.
You can never go wrong with the sweet flavors paired with pork. And you can make this flavor even more complex and layered by adding some heat. Perfection!
If you love pork, this is a recipe you will always love. If you have been searching for the perfect pork recipe, this is it! And really, how easy was this to make?! Do your taste buds a favor and try this out ASAP!
Much Love!
-K
Get the recipe here:
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Hey there! My name is Kaluhi and I love food! Through my blog, I am happy to share with you my self-taught recipes, steeped in nostalgia and the happiest of memories. I hope each recipe you try out is as addictive as the previous one and is shared on a table full of love and hearty laughs!
YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY IS S.T.U.N.N.I.N.G!!!!!!
“Do not add bananas in your pork and wonder why it backfired” LOL! I follow you on twitter and I saw that dude who changed the entire liver recipe and blamed it on you, yet he never followed anything as instructed LOL.
Keep doing what you do K!
LOL! You saw that too :D. I am still baffled! LOOOOOOOOL! Anyway, such characters make life interesting.
And asante for your compliment.
xx
Yay! The pork was definitely your favorite. This looks yummy!
This was definately delicious! Next time you are in Kenya, I would be more than happy to hang out :)))))))
Hey dear, I’m like an absolute fan of yours. All the recipes are amazeballs!!!! You make cooking so much fun and easy. PS: You’re sooo pretty, no homo lol. But anyway, I just have one problem called MARINADE!!! I find it so hard to marinade, or is it getting the ingredients to marinade. Please help a sister out, the simplest marinade for chicken . Thanks
Hey Sharon!
I am so glad you enjoy me recipes ! And thank you for the compliment :)) This one will be a fave of yours in no time. As for chicken, the marinade that we have always used at home has always been garlic, rosemary, and apple cider vinegar. Just that. And it DELIVERS!!!!!! Check out a post titled three spice golden fried chicken and see exactly how I went about it.
Thanks Doll. Have a lovely day. Blessings on Blessings
Looks soo delicious. You did an amazing job love.
Food lovers >>> africankaya.com
Thanks love and thank you so much for the inspo too :))
If i am unable to get plums, which other fruits can i use?
Use pineapple. Just ensure that they are really sweet pineapple.
Hey. I finally tried the recipe over the weekend. I got plums. The flavours were phenomenal. However, the meat was too soft. I think i used too much garlic.
Hey Ashes!
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe as much as I did. The flavors were truly explosive! As for the “too soft” meat, there is always a next time to get it just right, yes? :))
Yes. Now that plums will be out of season and i don’t like pineapples which other fruit can i use?
Passion fruit or plenty of sweet oranges
Your photography is on another level and the food so yuumy!
Thank you so so much! I try my very best and I am glad you like it :))
Hey gal, i must say you have hooked me up with the best way of making pork these time……mine i will use pineapples.
And your Kitenge like table mats…where can i get them?
Hey Winnie! Yes, pineapple can work as well. As for the table mats, you can always have them made at a fundi’s place. Buy material and ask a fundi to make some for you
Oh my goodness!!!!
A recipe that caters for my immense love for pork
Totally looking forward to try it out.
Thank you so very!!!!
Awesome!!! Let me know how it goes!!
hey kaluhi what would i do without you my family thinks im the best cook ever and its just because of you thank you so much.. about the marinade do i have to have a fridge for that..? im a student so struglesss girl strugles..
If you are marinating for more than 12 hours, you need to marinate it in the fridge. And i am so happy to know your fam has been enjoying great food :))
For sweet oranges, how what quantity of orange juice does one require? And the zest is that used or left out completely?
That will depend on the amount of pork you have………. How much pork do you have?
This remains one of my favourite Kaluhi recipes. I Keep coming back to it, year after year. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!
You are most welcome, it is so nice to know these recipes resonate to infinity!