Babi Kecap

I bookmarked this recipe a while back, but had it on the back burner due to never seeing kecap manis (Indonesian soy sauce) in Montreal (not that I had looked very hard). Imagine my surprise when a friend led me into a tiny Dutch convenience store outside of Ottawa and I found some sitting on the shelf. Of course there was no question as to whether or not I was buying the tiny bottle. The sauce on this recipe was fantastic. I should've listened to my inner voice, though, that told me to cover the pork while it simmered as the pork turned out a bit dry and the sauce reduced more quickly than I wanted it to. Despite the amount of chiles in the recipe, I didn't find it to be spicy.

One year ago: Chicken with Lemongrass
Two years ago: Espresso Chiffon Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting (which I recently remade!)

Babi Kecap (from Almost Bourdain, originally Rick Stein)

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
100 g shallots, thinly sliced
50 g garlic, minced
25 g peeled ginger, finely grated
1.25 kg lean pork shoulder, cut into 3cm chunks
4 tbsp kecap manis
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp Tamarind water
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3-4 medium-hot chillies, seeded and chopped
4 red bird's eye chillies, left whole
500 ml Asian chicken stock (~2 cups)
Crisp fried shallots, to garnish (I omitted)

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat.
2. Add the shallots and fry until they are soft and richly golden.
3. Add the garlic, ginger and 1/2 tsp salt and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add the pork to the pan and fry for 2 minutes until lightly coloured.
5. Add the kecap manis, dark soy sauce, tamarind water, pepper, chopped and whole chillies and stock.
6. Leave to simmer, uncovered [I recommend ignoring and covering], for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring now and then towards the end of cooking, until the pork is tender.
7. Lift the pork out of the sauce with a slotted spoon onto a plate.
8. Boil the cooking liquid until it has reduced to a well-flavoured, slightly thicken, shiny, dark brown sauce.
9. Season to taste with salt, return the pork to the pan and stir in. Spoon the pork onto a warmed serving plate, scatter with the crisp fried shallots and serve.