Tandoori Venison Skewers
Cubed venison in a spiced yogurt marinade, grilled hot and fast over the fire.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 47
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Venison, cut into 1- to 2-inch cubes | 2 lb | backstrap or sirloin if you have it; tip or neck roast works with a longer soak |
|---|---|---|
| Plain yogurt | 1 cup | whole milk; keep it cold |
| Canola oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic, finely chopped | 1 tbsp | |
| Ginger, finely chopped | 2 tsp | |
| Ground coriander | 1 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Cayenne pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ground cinnamon | 1/4 tsp | |
| Ground turmeric | 1/4 tsp | |
| Paprika | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Skewers | 6 to 8 | metal, or soak wood ones in water first |
Method
- At home or at the truck, stir the yogurt, oil, garlic, ginger, and all the spices together in a bag or lidded tub.
- Add the venison cubes and work the marinade over every piece. Seal it and keep it in the cooler two hours for tender cuts, four for anything from the leg or neck.
- Build a hot fire or run the gas grill high. You want to pull your hand back from over the grate in a second or two.
- Thread the cubes onto skewers, leaving a little gap between pieces so the heat gets around them.
- Lay the skewers straight on the grate. Two to three minutes a side, turning to hit all four faces.
- Pull them at medium rare. Venison is lean and goes to leather fast.
- Serve over rice cooked in a pot on the side.
This one stays a cooler recipe on purpose. Yogurt is the whole mechanism: the acid loosens the surface of a lean muscle so it takes spice, and the fat keeps the outside from drying out over a fire that hot. Swap it for a shelf-stable substitute and you lose most of that, which is why the powdered-milk version in the variations gets an hour and a lemon instead of a straight trade.
Heat and time are the only real decisions. Venison carries almost no intramarbling, so it goes from rare to dry in about ninety seconds of inattention. Big fire, small pieces, four short turns, off the grate. Marinate longer for cuts off the leg or neck and shorter for backstrap, which does not need the help.
Packing
Mix the dry spices at home in a small jar so camp is one pour, not eleven. Meat and yogurt go into one zip bag, marinated the morning you leave, and ride flat in the cooler under ice. That bag is the marinating vessel and the trash when you are done.
Variations
- No cooler and no fresh yogurt: use 3 tbsp of full-fat powdered milk mixed with 3 tbsp water and a squeeze of lemon, and marinate freeze-dried or thawed vacuum-sealed venison for an hour.
- Cut the cayenne in half and add a second teaspoon of paprika if you are feeding a mixed crowd.
- Thread quartered onion between the meat if you brought one. It chars and softens in the same ten minutes.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/tandoori-venison-kabobs