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square photo of babi pangang in a blue bowl

Chinese babi pangang recipe

Andréa
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.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Marinade 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours
Course Dinner
Cuisine Asian
Servings 4 persons
Calories 410 kcal

Equipment

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

Ingredients
 

Grilled babi pangang meat

  • 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
  • 2 tablespoons oil vegetable or canola
  • 1 pound gammon steaks or pork belly, Cut the steak in 1 inch (2 cm) thick slices

Sweet babi pangang sauce

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

Ingredients you need per step are listed below the step in Italic

Instructions
 

Preparation and marinade pork

  • Make a marinade with onion, garlic, ginger syrup, sambal oelek, and kecap manis.
    1 onion, 1 clove garlic , 3 tablespoons ginger syrup, ½ teaspoon sambal oelek, 2 tablespoons kecap manis
  • Rub the meat with the marinade. Let it marinate for 2 hours.
    1 pound gammon steaks

To Roast

  • Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C), half an hour before start roasting.
  • Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan and fry the meat until brown. It doesn't have to be done yet.
    2 tablespoons oil
  • Put the meat in a baking dish and place it in the oven. Let it bake for 20 minutes.
  • Then turn on the grill to medium and grill the meat for 15 minutes. If you don't have a medium grill option, turn it on high and put the casserole dish at the bottom.

Sweet and sour ginger tomato sauce

  • Meanwhile heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion and tomato paste. Stir for two minutes until it begins to smell sweet.
    1 tablespoon oil, 1 onion, 2 ounces tomato paste
  • Add sherry, soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, curry and water and mix well.
    ¼ cup kecap manis, 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar, 2 tablespoons sherry, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, 4 tablespoons curry sauce, ¾ cup water
  • Bring to the boil.
  • Whisk the cornstarch with the water to a paste and mix that into the sauce.
    ¼ cup water, 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes. It will thicken slightly. 
  • 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 or online. But you can also make it yourself. 
Prepare Homemade Kecap Manis:
  1.  Add ¼ cup soy sauce and ¼ cup brown sugar to a saucepan.
  2. 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).
  3. 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 substituted with dry white wine, dry Bourbon, or Saké.
5. - Deep-Fried - If you want a more crunchy variety, just like Dutch Chinese, you can achieve it as follows. Use for this frying method: pork belly, bacon, or pork neck.
  1. Cut the meat into thick slices.
  2. First, marinate the meat for at least 2 hours (in the marinate that you can find in the recipe).
  3. Then you cook the meat for 40 minutes in vegetable stock, adding the marinade.
  4. Next, heat the deep fryer to 350 °F (180 °C) and fry the beef for 2 to 3 minutes until crispy.
  5. Drain on kitchen paper and serve topped with the sauce.
6. - Storage 
You prefer to make the meat fresh. Otherwise, it will lose its crunchy structure. But if you still have leftovers:
  • Marinating - Make the marinade and marinate the meat in it. This can be done up to 1 day in advance.
  • Refrigerator - Store the meat and sauce separately. You can keep the babi pangang covered in the fridge for up to 2 days. You can make the sauce up to 3 days in advance. Keep it covered in the refrigerator.
  • Frozen - Store the meat and sauce separately. Freeze the meat in a freezer box or bag for up to 2 months. If you have leftover sauce (without meat), you can freeze it for up to 2 months in an airtight container in the freezer. Let thaw in the refrigerator.
  • Reheat - Warm the meat in the oven at 390 °F (200 °C) for 20 minutes. Heat the sauce over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
7. - Nutritional Value Per serving, assuming four servings. Probably this is overstated because of any leftover sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 410kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 51mg | Sodium: 2131mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 295IU | Vitamin C: 45mg | Iron: 2mg
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