Recipe: babi pangang made with crispy pork belly

Everyone knows babi pangang from white plastic containers with compacted nasi goreng, and it’s delicious. Can you imagine that it can be even better than such a tub of comfort food? Absolutely, if you grill the babi pangang yourself from pork belly that becomes so crisp and crunchy that you cut pieces with a loud ‘crack’, and then pour that kitschy red sauce you make yourself over it… You have to try this at least once!

The Chinese-Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands have thoroughly adapted all their dishes to the Dutch palate, but oddly enough, babi pangang is still fairly authentic. In China, it is also made with pork belly; in Indonesia, it is roasted over a charcoal fire. The sauce served with it should actually be made with sambal and pork blood, but the sweet-and-sour tomato sauce served with it by Lotus or De Lange Muur is, oddly enough, more popular here. And that sauce is originally Chinese too; the recipe was first written down in 1933.

How to make babi pangang with crispy pork belly

• Scrub the pork skin thoroughly clean. Place the piece of pork belly in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let it cook for half an hour.
• Remove the pork belly from the water and let it cool. Place it on a cutting board, skin-side down, and cut into the pork belly every 2 cm, right down to the skin. You are essentially making a fan; the skin holds the pork belly together.
• Dry the pork belly thoroughly. Clean the top extra well with a wad of paper towel and a tablespoon of vinegar.
• Now prick holes in the skin. Do this with a satay skewer. Not one or two holes—no, dozens of holes. These will allow the fat to drip out of the pork belly later, so the pork belly bakes up super crispy.
• Press the garlic, then mix it with the 5 spice powder, salt and sugar. Spread this mixture between the pieces of pork belly you cut into. Then rub it over the underside as well. Wrap it up well and let it marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the pork belly, skin-side up, in a baking dish. If necessary, pat the top dry once more with paper towel and sprinkle some salt over it. Bake the pork belly for 45 minutes, until the top is very crisp.
• In the meantime, you can make the sauce. Heat the sunflower oil in a small saucepan and sauté the garlic and ginger in it. Add the can of tomato paste, the ketjap, vinegar and sugar. Add a little water or apple juice and stir well. Taste the sauce: does it need more salt? Is the sauce too sweet? It’s all about finding the right balance between sweet and sour.
• Cut the pork belly into pieces and spoon the sauce over it. Serve with atjar, white rice and prawn crackers.

Also read:

• We love the neighborhood Chinese restaurant
• This ingredient makes every dish taste authentically Chinese
• Make takeout classics at home