Chinese Babi Pangang Recipe

Chinese Babi Pangang

A copycat Chinese take-out Babi Pangang recipe is always a good thing in my world. Like the Egg Foo Young (Chinese Omelette), crispy spring rolls, or the sweet Chinese tomato soup I make pretty often. But this recipe was quite a hard one which I had to try quite often to get the best result. First, get those crispy pieces of meat; then, prepare a delicious glossy sweet and sour red sauce.

Chinese Babi Pangang with a sweet tomato sauce is easy to prepare. Who needs to order take-out when you've got this delicious recipe?

Just as Quick as Take-out

A kind of take-out recipe. But is this recipe categorized as fast food if you make it yourself? In terms of preparation, it certainly is, because you don't have that much work to do.

To get that crispy meat, you should grill it for half an hour. But then you have a slimmer version (yet still very crunchy) than at the Chinese restaurant, where they deep fry the Babi Pangang. And drive up and down to the dinner, that takes half an hour too, right?

What is Babi Pangang?

This dish is an Indonesian recipe, which means grilled pork. That's how it's often prepared in Indonesia. But in the Netherlands, we can get it at our local Chinese, so the Chinese in the title.

Traditionally, the pork is hung over a wood fire and grilled until done. But that's not the usual way in our country. Here most often, pork belly and sometimes gammon ham steaks are used in the preparation of the Babi Pangang. These are first baked and then deep-fried. And afterward, the meat is topped with a sweet and sour sauce.

Step 1 - Prepare the marinade

1. Add the finely sliced garlic and half the onion and ginger syrup to the bowl.
2. Then add the Sambal Oelek and two tablespoons of Kecap Manis.
3. Stir everything well.
4. Slice the steaks into small strips (1 inch / 2 cm thick) and put them with the marinate. Mix everything, so the meat is coated. Let it stand for 15 minutes.

Step 2 - Fry the meat

1. Heat the oil in a skillet until it's hot. Add the onion and bake until translucent (about 3 minutes on medium heat). Then add the meat, and include the marinate for even more flavor.
2. Fry the meat until it's brown on all sites in about five minutes. Since you're going to bake it in the oven, it doesn't have to be done yet.

Step 3 - Grill until crispy

1. Add the meat to a ceramic oven dish and put it in the preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C). Bake for 20 minutes.
2. Turn on the grill and grill for another 15 minutes until the meat is crispy and dark brown. Check every 3 minutes; if the meat gets too brown, take it out of the oven.

Step 4 - Prepare the sweet tomato sauce

1. Pour oil into a saucepan. Add the remaining onion and tomato paste and bake for 3 minutes. The tomato paste won't taste sour anymore and becomes slightly sweet.
2. Add the sherry, the remaining kecap manis, brown sugar, and vinegar.
3. Pour the curry sauce and water into the pan and mix well. Bring to the boil on high heat while stirring. Then turn the heat to low.
4. Mix the cornstarch with the leftover water until it's dissolved. Add to the sauce and mix well. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes until it becomes thicker and glazy. Turn off the heat. When the meat comes out of the oven, pour the sauce on top of the flesh.

Serve the Babi Pangang with bami goreng or nasi, Atjar, and a spicy cucumber salad. Or make it part of your next rice table with mini spring rolls, frikadel djagoeng, and Pepesan Ikan.

Deep-Fried - If you want a more crispy variety, just like Dutch Chinese Babi Pangang, which is deep-fried, you can achieve it as follows. Use for this method as meat pork belly, bacon, or pork neck:

1. Cut the meat into thick slices.
2. Marinate the meat for at least 2 hours (in the marinade, you can find in the recipe). After that, you cook the meat for 40 minutes in vegetable stock, adding the marinade.
3. Heat the deep fryer to 350 °F (180 °C) and fry the beef for 2 to 3 minutes until crispy.
4. Drain on kitchen paper and serve topped with the sauce.