Babi Ketjap (Pork Braised in Sweet Soy)
Babi ketjap
Cubes of pork braised slowly in ketjap manis with shallot, garlic and ginger until dark and tender. An Indo-Dutch home dish with Chinese-Indonesian roots.
IIIStews & Braises- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 100 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Beginner
Pork has only a small place in Indonesian cooking, for a plain reason: most Indonesians are Muslim. Where it does appear, it tends to come from the Chinese-Indonesian kitchen, from Bali, or from the archipelago's Christian communities. Babi kecap, pork braised in sweet soy, belongs to the Chinese-Indonesian side of that story, and it is one of the dishes Indo families kept cooking after they settled in the Netherlands.
A home dish from the Indies
In the colonial Indies, Indo households cooked from more than one tradition at once, and a pan of pork in ketjap sat comfortably next to Javanese sambals and Dutch habits. The method is Chinese in spirit and Indonesian in its seasoning: a slow braise in ketjap manis with shallot, garlic and ginger. After independence, when many Indo families moved to the Netherlands, the dish came with them. It later turned up on Chinees-Indisch takeaway menus as well, often sweeter and saucier than the version cooked at home.
It is a close relative of our kip ketjap and a plainer cousin of semur, which brings nutmeg and clove forward. Babi ketjap keeps those spices in the background and lets the sweet soy and ginger lead.
Colour first, then patience
The method is simple, but the order matters. Brown the pork properly, in batches, before any ketjap goes near the pan. Sweet soy is thick with palm sugar and burns long before the meat has taken on colour, so the browning happens in plain oil and the ketjap arrives with the water.
Babi ketjap asks for time more than skill: an hour and a half of low heat turns a cheap cut into something dark and soft.
Then leave it alone. A bare simmer under a lid renders the fat and softens the meat, and a last spell uncovered cooks the sauce down to a glaze that lacquers each cube. A little tamarind or lime at the end cuts the sweetness. Serve it over plain rice with cucumber for freshness, and expect the sauce to taste even better the next day.
“Brown the pork before the ketjap goes in. Sweet soy scorches in a hot pan and turns bitter long before the meat takes on colour.”
Ingredients
Serves 4
The pork
- 1 kgpork shoulder or belly, cut into 3 cm cubes
- 1 tspsalt
- 0.5 tspground white pepper
- 2 tbspneutral oil
The aromatics
- 6shallots, sliced
- 5garlic cloves, sliced
- 4 cmfresh ginger, cut into matchsticks
- 1red chilli, halved lengthways, optional
The braise
- 6 tbspketjap manis, sweet soy
- 2 tbsplight soy sauce
- 1star anise
- 1 pinchgrated nutmeg
- 400 mlwater
- 1 tbsptamarind water or lime juice, to finish
To serve
- to servesteamed white rice
- to servefried shallots and sliced cucumber
Method
- 1
Season and brown the pork
Pat the cubes dry and season them with salt and white pepper. Brown them in the oil in two or three batches over high heat, turning until each side has real colour. Crowding the pan makes the meat steam grey, and that colour is where much of the savoury depth comes from.
- 2
Soften the aromatics
Lower the heat and fry the shallots, garlic, ginger and chilli in the rendered fat for about five minutes, scraping up the browned bits, until soft and golden. Take care not to scorch the garlic.
- 3
Add the ketjap and braise
Return the pork, add the ketjap manis, soy, star anise and nutmeg, and stir to coat. Pour in the water and bring to a bare simmer. Adding the ketjap only after the browning matters: its sugar burns quickly over high heat.
- 4
Cook low and slow
Cover and simmer very gently for about an hour and a quarter, stirring now and then, until a fork slides into the pork with no resistance. Shoulder stays in neat cubes; belly turns softer and richer.
- 5
Reduce to a glaze
Uncover for the last 15 to 20 minutes and let the sauce cook down until it coats the back of a spoon and clings to the meat. Skim off excess fat, sharpen with tamarind water or lime, and serve over rice with fried shallots and cucumber.
Alongside the braise
Slow pots want something to catch the sauce and something sweet against it.
- Boiled potatoes, or a mound of plain rice for zuurvlees
- Rode kool met appel, red cabbage stewed with apple
- Appelmoes, apple sauce, the eternal Dutch side
- Zoervleisj on fries, Limburg-style, over frites
Questions from the kitchen
Is babi ketjap Indonesian?+
Yes. Babi kecap is an Indonesian dish, rooted in Chinese-Indonesian home cooking, since pork is not eaten by the Muslim majority. It travelled to the Netherlands with Indo families and also appears on Chinees-Indisch takeaway menus.
Which cut of pork is best?+
Shoulder gives tender, fairly lean cubes that hold their shape. Belly gives a richer, softer result with more fat to skim. A mix of the two works well.
How is it different from semur?+
Semur is the spiced sweet-soy stew, usually of beef, with nutmeg and clove to the fore. Babi ketjap is simpler. It leans on ginger and garlic and on the ketjap itself.
Can I make it ahead?+
It improves overnight. Cool it, chill it, lift off the set fat, and reheat gently with a splash of water before serving.
Paint the rest of the meal
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