Guus Bosman

Yesterday I cooked babi pangang and oh boy, that was delicious. I don't think I've ever made babi pangang before, but inspired by all the Dutch things last weekend I prepare pork ribs in a marinade on Sunday night. It stayed in the fridge for 24 hours and I cooked it yesterday. It was an excellent dish and got great reviews from my audience.

I also made a small pan with sauce, but that didn't turn out very nice. The recipe called for tomato ketchup, which should have been a warning sign, and the result just wasn't delicious. Next time I'll use another recipe.

The meat in the babi pangang is pork, but there are a couple of different cuts you can use. Yesterday I tried pork ribs, another time I'll probably go for boneless meat. In Holland a great choice would be speklapjes (pork belly strips). Marinade the meat and let it stand for at least an hour, preferably over night (see ingredients below).

Cook the pork on a medium high fire, with the marinade in a pan, for about 30 to 40 minutes until the meat is done and tender. Then, put the pork with some of the marinade, in a pan in the oven (400 degrees) for about 10 minutes so it gets crispy. Serve with white rice (and a babi pangang sauce, if you can find a good recipe).

Ingredients for the marinade:

- 6 tbsp ketjap manis (sweet Indonesian soya sauce)
- 2 tbsp oil
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tsp fresh, finely cut ginger
- 2 mashed cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp koriander
- some salt

For best results, use fresh ginger and fresh garlic. Don't be tempted to use that 4 week old garlic you have in your pantry! Garlic is cheap but it's very important for the flavor.