Babi Kecap is a Chinese-Indonesian dish made up of pork slow-cooked with onions, garlic, spices, etc. in a sauce based with Kecap Manis (kecap - 'soy sauce', manis - 'sweet'), a variant of soy sauce with added palm or brown sugar. It is my favorite Indonesian dish, and I have made it four times here in the United States, twice in a pot for about two hours, and twice in a slow-cooker for 6 to 8 hours. I have found the slow-cooker method to be far superior due to the way it liquidizes the onion, garlic and spices, penetrates the flavors into the pork chunks, and tenderizes the pork to a point of buttery perfection.
This dish is popular among many non-Muslim communities in Indonesia, including Chinese-Indonesians, Balinese, Batak, and Minahasan ethnic groups, as well as in the Netherlands.
Ingredients:
I was able to find my spices at two Asian supermarkets - New Grand Mart and Tan-A - both on Broad St. in Richmond. For the other ingredients I went to Kroger.
1.5kg boned pork shoulder, cut into 5cm chunks
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil
1 large onion, or 6 shallots, thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, crushed
20g fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
4 red bird’s-eye chillies, deseeded and finely chopped (if you like it spicy!)
500ml chicken stock
4 tbsp kecap manis sauce (sweet soy sauce)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp tamarind paste (the non-concentrated sort)
Garnish:
- 2 tbsp groundnut oil
4 shallots, thinly sliced
2 mild red or green chillies, thinly sliced
- green onions
Instructions:
1. Put the pieces of pork in a bowl. Mix the spices and salt, then sprinkle them over the pork, turning the meat to make sure it is all well covered.
2. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish, then add the onion or shallots. Fry them gently over a gentle heat until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies and cook for a further minute.
3. Add the pork to the casserole dish and cook on a medium heat for a few minutes, turning the pieces of meat until they are browned all over. Mix the chicken stock with the kecap manis, soy sauce and tamarind paste and pour this over the pork.
4. Brown the meat for a little while, then take everything and put it into a crock pot. Turn the slow cooker on and cook for 8 hours on low (recommended) or 4 hours on high (also works), stirring occasionally if possible. Turn up the heat or return to the stovetop towards the end of the cooking time if the sauce is still quite liquid. There will likely be an excess of oil, so feel free to spoon some of it off while
5. To make the garnish, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the shallots. Fry over a medium to high heat, stirring frequently, until the shallots are golden-brown and crisp. Remove them from the pan, drain on kitchen paper and allow them to cool. Serve the pork garnished with the shallots, fresh green onions and sliced chillies.
In process...
The delicious results O.O mixed with nasi putih 'white rice' and kacang hijau 'green beans'
Comments
It does, indeed, look delicious, Zack! How did you first encounter this dish?
Oh my goodness - this looks amazing. I can practically taste it. Thanks for sharing, and especially for sharing the recipe!