Babi Tjin

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Or Babi Chin, as it’s called in English. All these different names can get confusing! I’m no spring chicken anymore and it’s hard to keep up in my old age.

Whatever you want to call it, it’s always a delicious and very simple dish: pork in dark soy sauce. Very straightforward. Doesn’t require a whole lot of exotic ingredients and is probably even considered pantry cooking to a lot of you. Those are my favourite Indonesian dishes because they’re perfect for a busy and hectic weeknight.

Did I already mention that it’s scrumptious?

In all honesty… I’d forgotten all about this dish until I stumbled upon it while flipping though the pages of a Dutch cookbook I got for my 25th-and-holding birthday, Boekoe Kita, and there it was in all its sweet and salty glory.

So I cooked it…

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pound pork belly
1 medium onion
2 large garlic cloves (thinly sliced)
1/4 tsp dried chili flakes
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
4 tbsp sweet soy sauce (ketjap)
1 tbsp Taotjo (salty soybean sauce)
4 tbsp water
1 tbsp peanut oil

Directions:

Turn the pork belly into roughly 1? cubes.

Chop the onion.

Heat the oil and cook the pork belly cubes over low to medium heat.

We’re gonna brown them and crisp them up.

Let’s slowly get rid of all the fat. See how it just melts away? I wish I could do that with my spare-tire as well.

As soon as most of the fat has melted and the pork cubes are crunchy and golden brown…

It’s time to transfer them to a paper towel and chuck out the fat. Leave about 1 tsp in there.

Sauté the onion for a minute or 3 before adding the thinly sliced garlic. Cook for another 3 minutes, until the onion is soft.

Add the chill flakes, ground ginger and ground coriander and cook for a minute to get the flavours going.

Add the sweet soy sauce and Taotjo, which is a salty soy bean sauce that gives the dish its characteristic flavour.

Add 4 tbsp water, stir everything well and simmer for a few minutes over low heat.

Add the crispy pork cubes and heat it all through.

Serve the pork on top of steamed rice and crunchy green beans and finish the dish with a small handful seroendeng and Kentang on top.

Sweet, salty and flavourful pork. What more could you possibly ask for?

Turn the pork belly into roughly 1? cubes. Chop the onion and thinly slice the garlic. Heat the oil and cook the pork over low to medium heat until brown and crunchy and most of the fat has melted. Throw away the fat leaving 1 tsp in the skillet.

Sauté the onion for a minute or 3 before adding the thinly sliced garlic. Cook for another 3 minutes, until the onion is soft. Add the chill flakes, ground ginger and ground coriander and cook for a minute to get the flavours going. Add the sweet soy sauce and Taotjo, which is a salty soy bean sauce that gives the dish its characteristic flavour. taste it and look for a balance between sweet and salty.

Add 4 tbsp water, stir everything well and simmer for a few minutes over low heat. Add the crispy pork cubes and heat it all through. Serve the pork on top of steamed rice and crunchy green beans and finish the dish with a small handful seroendeng and Kentang on top.

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Acar Ketimun

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It’s time for me to redo a few of my older recipes. Some of those photos are atrocious, really. If these were actual prints, I’d build a camp fire to ritually burn them and wildly dance around it while the ashes rise high above me.

Anyhow…

I’m starting with my beloved acar ketimun. If ever there was a food staple in our home, this one is it. Whenever I cook Indonesian food, something that happens a lot around here, I start by making this spicy cucumber pickle. Indonesian food can be quite sweet, and this acar is the perfect counterpart. In all honesty, you could serve plain white rice with acar and I’d still be a happy camper.

Acar means pickle or pickled, ketimun means cucumber. ‘Acar‘ stands for a variety of pickled side-dishes, one of the most renowned around here is acar campur (pickled mixed vegetables), but this one will always be my favourite.

Here we go…

Ingredients:

1 large cucumber, peeled
1 small onion or two shallots
1 garlic clove
2 roasted kemiri nuts or 1 tsp kemiri paste (listing substitutes below)
1 or 2 tsp sambal (whatever kind you like)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 slice ginger, grated
1 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp peanut oil
pinch of salt

Directions:

I use my tjobek (a flat mortar and pestle) to make my bumbu, but you can use a food processor or immersion blender as well. 

I finely mince the onion.

Kemiri nuts (candle nuts) are often used in Indonesian cuisine. It adds a richness and creaminess to the dishes with a slight hint of bitter, which balances the sweet and sour nicely. You can buy whole nuts that you first have to roast for about 10 minutes in a dry skillet, but this kemiri paste works pretty good, too. Can’t buy them where you are? No prob. Try macadamia or cashew as a substitute.

Add the roasted kemiri nuts or paste.

Grate the ginger and add it.

I usually added finely minced chilli peppers or a big glob of sambal oelek, but this is my new favourite sambal. Use whatever you like or have on hand and whatever quantity you like. I won’t judge!

The turmeric is pretty important here.

Add the minced garlic and start mashing.

Until you have a gorgeous, deep-yellow bumbu. See how mashing the bumbu yourself results in a different structure than, say, your food processor would give?

You can slice/cut/chop the cucumber any way you like. We prefer bit-sized pieces. Sprinkle a small amount of table-salt all over and drain them in a colander.

Heat the oil and cook the bumbu, over low to medium heat, for about 5 minutes while stirring often. Don’t let it burn!

Add the sugar, a good pinch of salt and pour in the vinegar and water.

Bring it to a boil. Temper the heat and simmer over low heat for about 4 to 5 minutes.

Until some of the liquid vas vaporised and you end up with this… I could just eat this by the spoonful, I kid you not.

Stir in the cucumber and give it another 30 seconds before turning off the heat. No longer than 30 seconds, mind you!

Leave the cucumber in the pan until it has cooled off.

Transfer it to a plate, bowl, jar or whatever makes your skirt fly up and store it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

So simple, but so essential when you eat Indonesian food.

I use my tjobek (a flat mortar and pestle) to make my bumbu, but you can use a food processor or immersion blender as well.

Finely mince the onion, garlic and grate the ginger. Add the roasted kemiri nuts or paste, turmeric, sambal (or a finely minced red chili pepper) and mash until you have a paste. You can slice/cut/chop the cucumber any way you like. We prefer bit-sized pieces. Sprinkle a small amount of table-salt all over and drain them in a colander.

Heat the oil and cook the bumbu, over low to medium heat, for about 5 minutes while stirring often. Don’t let it burn! Add the sugar, a good pinch of salt and pour in the vinegar and water and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes over low heat. Stir in the cucumber and give it another 30 seconds before turning off the heat. Leave the cucumber in the pan until it has cooled off completely.

Store in the fridge for a few hours until you’re ready to serve it.

Pickles, Side-Dish, Indonesian food

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