Sweet Soy Pork with Ginger

Eating this dish is like committing a crime to your own body. The fats contained in the pork is so obvious, visible, and confronting, but I cooked them anyway. The dish is irresistible once you smell the ginger infused with the sweet soy sauce. It is always a hit on our dinner table. I like to cook mine with chillies, however I could not slice the chilies for the sake of my beloved son. He loves the dish too. I have to cook the chilies in whole, and apparently by doing so it reduces the heat and spiciness of the chilies.

When I stayed at my grandparents house, I used to eat Sweet Soy Pork with Ginger, or what I call Babi Masak Kecap. My grandma cooked Babi Masak Kecap in different way than mine though, because she does not use some of the ingredients I do. I was told by my mother in law that by using Chinese red vinegar in cooking pork dish, it would tenderize the meat, so following on her advice, I added some to mine.

My twist on this recipe is that the ginger has to be pureed, and it makes a huge difference to the taste of the dish. I used to cook mine with the thinly sliced ginger as my grandma’s does, but there was that day a.k.a my lazy day. I used to prepare all of my puree fresh garlic, ginger and chili in containers available in the fridge for me to use anytime. Anyway, instead of slicing thinly my ginger, I just used my ready stock puree ginger instead. So there it was, an accidental secret recipe was invented.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg pork rasher, cut into 5 mm thick (see note)
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
• 2 cloves shallot, sliced thinly
• 2 tbsp of ginger, pureed
• 5 small red chillies (optional)
• 1 1/2 tbsp Chinese red vinegar/Ang Ciu
• 1 cup of sweet soy sauce/Kecap Manis
• 1 cup of water
• 2 tsp of salt
• dash of pepper
• oil to stir frying (see note)