Chinese Babi Pangang Recipe

Chinese babi pangang, crispy pieces of meat with a delicious glossy sweet sauce, like you can get at a take out at the Dutch Chinese. Who needs to order take-out when you've got this delicious recipe? Fast food, homemade and delicious.

A copycat Chinese takeout 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, which I make quite often. But this recipe was quite a hard one which I had to try quite often to get the best result. To obtain those crispy pieces of meat with a delicious glossy sweet tomato 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 also 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.

Just to get that crispy meat, you should grill it for half an hour. But then you do 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 literally means grilled pork. That's how it's often prepared in Indonesia is. But in the Netherlands, we can get it at our local Chinese, therefore the Chinese in the title.

Originally the pork is hung over a wood fire and it's 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.

🥘 Ingredients

A full list of ingredients can be found at the end of this blog.

• Pork - The best pork to use is Gammon Ham Steak or Pork Belly. I prefer the first because I find the Pork Belly too fatty.

• Sugar - Brown sugar is great because it's got a deep flavor. But you could also use white or light brown sugar.

• Kecap Manis - A sweet Indonesian soy sauce that is syrupy. It adds some sweetness and soy flavor. You can find it in (Asian) supermarkets. But you can also make it yourself (see the TIPS)

• Sambal Oelek - a hot and spicy sauce for some extra heat. You can substitute it with sriracha or any other Asian Chili paste

• Sherry - a fortified wine made from white grapes from Spain. If you can't obtain it you could use sake, dry white wine, or unflavored brandy.

• Ginger syrup - a sweet sugar syrup with a ginger flavor. If you can't buy it you can find a delicious recipe here.

• Curry sauce - Here the curry table sauce is used. It gives a tangy-sweet flavor to the sweet tomato sauce. It's also called curry ketchup or currygewürzketchup.

🔪 Preparation

You can find a recipe that you can easily print at the bottom of this blog.

Step 1 - Prepare the marinate

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 in 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, 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 in a saucepan. Add the remaining onion and tomato paste and bake for 3 minutes. That way 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 of the heat. When the meat comes out of the oven pour the sauce on top of the meat.

Substitutions

• Gammon Ham Steak - This can be substituted with Pork Belly
• Kecap Manis - If you can't get it make your own! In a saucepan use ¼ cup soy sauce and ¼ cup brown sugar. Heat, while stirring, on medium until the sugar is dissolved. Let it simmer for a few minutes until the sauce becomes slightly thicker (like honey). Then turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. It will thicken when it cools down.
• Sambal Oelek - If you can't get Sambal substitute it with Sriracha or Asian Chili Paste.
• Sherry - can be substitute with dry white wine, dry bourbon, or Saké.

Variations

• Spicy - Add more sambal to the sauce. You also could spice it up with chili pepper flakes.
• Deep-Fried - If you want a more crunchy variety, just like with the Dutch Chinese, you can achieve it as follows. Use for this as meat (belly) bacon or pork neck. Cut the meat into thick slices. First, you marinate the meat for at least 2 hours (in the marinate that you can find in the recipe). Then you cook the meat for 40 minutes in vegetable stock to which you add the marinade. Heat the deep fryer to 350 °F (180 °C) and fry the meat for 2 to 3 minutes until crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and serve topped with the sauce.

Equipment

• In this recipe, I used a ceramic oven dish of 11"L x 7.7"W x 2.6"H (30 x 20 cm) which could contain all of the ingredients easily. This casserole dish is also suitable for grilling.
• Use a skillet that's large enough to contain all the meat. And make sure it's non-stick (you will thank me when doing the dishes). This skillet is similar to the one I use.
• For preparing the sauce I used this saucepan because it evenly heats the sauce which is important to prevent burning. And you can clean it in the dishwasher!
• I'm so glad I once made the investment in a great Chef's knife to slice my meat and veggies. It saves a lot of time and discomfort. The knife lays great in my hands and the blade is long enough to cut through almost anything. I use this knife for almost everything I slice.

Storage

• Finely chop the onion. You can keep this in a closed container for two days.
• Crush the garlic and add oil until it is covered. This way it will stay in the refrigerator for up to a week.
• Make the marinade and marinate the meat in it. This is possible up to 1 day in advance.
• Cut the gammon steak into strips and keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. When the gammon steak is grilled then you keep it stored in the refrigerator for up to two days. You can also freeze the gammon steak in a container box for up to two months. Defrost in the refrigerator. Bake in a skillet until hot and cover with warm sauce.
• You can make the sauce up to 3 days in advance. Keep it covered in the refrigerator. If your sauce (without meat) is leftover, you can freeze it for up to 2 months in an airtight container in the freezer.
• You prefer to make the meat on the day when serving. Otherwise, it will lose its crispy texture. But if you want to store it anyway, store it without sauce and warm it up in the oven at 350 °F (200 °C). You can keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and in the freezer for up to 2 months. But the structure will change slightly after reheating.
• Store the leftover Babi Pangang sauce for up to 3 days in the refrigerator or freeze it for up to 2 months.

Top Tips

• Bake the tomato paste for at least 2 minutes until it smells sweet. If you skip this step, the tomato paste will have a sour taste.
• Serve with Atjar and Bami goreng or nasi.

🥘  Other delicious recipes

Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I really enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!

📖 Recipe

Chinese babi pangang recipe

Author: Andréa

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Total Time 1 hr

Chinese

5 of 27 votes

Voor 4 persons

Pas met de knoppen het aantal personen aan.

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Chinese babi pangang, crispy pieces of meat with a delicious glossy sweet sauce, like you can get at a take out at the Dutch Chinese. Who needs to order take-out when you've got this delicious recipe? Fast food, homemade and delicious.

Equipment

• ▢
  A conventional oven is used. When using a convection oven (with air fan) decrease the temperature wit 30 °F / 20 °C
• ▢
  frying pan
• ▢
  saucepan
• ▢
  oven dish

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

Grilled babi pangang meat

• ▢ 1 pound gammon ham steaks or pork belly
• ▢ 1 onion finely chopped
• ▢ 1 clove garlic minced or squeezed
• ▢ 3 tablespoons ginger syrup
• ▢ ½ teaspoon sambal oelek sriracha or Asian chili paste
• ▢ 2 tablespoons kecap manis sweet soy sauce (Note )
• ▢ 2 tablespoons oil vegetable or canola

Sweet babi pangang sauce

• ▢ 1 onion finely chopped
• ▢ 2 ounces tomato paste
• ▢ ¼ cup kecap manis sweet soy sauce
• ▢ 1 tablespoon brown sugar white or light brown sugar is also ok
• ▢ 2 tablespoons sherry dry white wine, sake or dry Bourbon will do
• ▢ 1 tablespoon vinegar white vinegar or Chinese vinegar
• ▢ 4 tablespoons curry sauce curry table sauce
• ▢ ¾ cup water
• ▢ 1 tablespoon oil vegetable or canola
• ▢ ¼ cup water
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cornstarch

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preparation and marinade pork

• Cut the steak in 1 inch (2 cm) thick slices.
  1 pound gammon ham steaks
• Make a marinade with onion, garlic, ginger syrup, sambal oelek and kecap manis.
• Rub the meat with the marinade.
• Get everything ready for the sauce. Put the sherry, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, curry and ¾ cup (200 ml) and put it in one bowl which you set aside

To Roast

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan and fry the meat until brown. It doesn't have to be done yet.
  1 clove garlic
• Put the meat in a baking dish and place it in the oven. Let it bake for 20 minutes.
• Then turn on the grill and grill the meat for 15 minutes.

Sweet and sour ginger tomato sauce

• Meanwhile heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion.
  ¼ cup kecap manis, 1 onion
• Add the tomato paste and stir for two minutes until it begins to smell sweet.
  2 tablespoons kecap manis
• Add the bowl with sherry, remaining soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, curry and water and mix well.
• Bring to the boil.
• Whisk the cornstarch with the remaining water to a paste and mix that into the sauce.
  2 ounces tomato paste
• Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes. It will thicken sligtly.
• Remove the meat from the oven and pour the sauce over the meat.
• Serve with fried rice, bami or noodles.

Notes

1. - Kecap Manis - A sweet Indonesian soy sauce that is syrupy. It adds some sweetness and soy flavor. You can find it in (Asian) supermarkets. But you can also make it yourself. 

Prepare Homemade Kecap Manis: In a saucepan use ¼ cup soy sauce and ¼ cup brown sugar. Heat, while stirring, on medium until the sugar is dissolved. Let it simmer for a few minutes until the sauce becomes slightly thicker (like honey). Then turn off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. It will thicken when it cools down.

2. - Gammon Ham Steak - This can be substituted with Pork Belly

3. - Sambal Oelek - If you can't get Sambal substitute it with Sriracha or Asian Chili Paste.

4. - Sherry - can be substitute with dry white wine, dry bourbon, or Saké.

5. - Deep-Fried - If you want a more crunchy variety, just like with the Dutch Chinese, you can achieve it as follows. Use for this as meat (belly) bacon or pork neck. Cut the meat into thick slices. First, you marinate the meat for at least 2 hours (in the marinate that you can find in the recipe). Then you cook the meat for 40 minutes in vegetable stock to which you add the marinade. Heat the deep fryer to 350 °F (180 °C) and fry the meat for 2 to 3 minutes until crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and serve topped with the sauce.

6. - Storage 

• You prefer to make the meat on the day when serving. Otherwise, it will lose its crispy texture. But if you want to store it anyway, store it without sauce and warm it up in the oven at 350 °F (200 °C). You can keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and in the freezer for up to 2 months. But the structure will change slightly after reheating.
• Store the leftover Babi Pangang sauce for up to 3 days in the refrigerator or freeze it for up to 2 months.
• Don't store when the meat is mixed with the sauce. The meat won't be crunchy anymore. This combination doesn't freeze very well.

7. - Nutritional Value Per serving assuming 4 servings. Probably this is overstated because of any leftover sauce.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 412kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 51mg | Sodium: 2131mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 295IU | Vitamin C: 45mg | Iron: 2mg

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