Babi Guling

Babi Guling is a traditional Balinese dish that’s basically a stuffed sucking pig roasted over a fire until it’s cooked through and the skin is crispy. What’s not to like about that? The thing is, roasting a whole pig in a high-rise condo isn’t exactly practical (unless you’re fabulously rich and can have a dedicated fire pit and giant exhaust fan in your place). And that’s where this recipe comes in: make a mini version with a slab of pork belly.

There are many recipes for making babi guling with pork belly, but after looking through a bunch of them online, I decided to replicate the recipe from Food Made with Love, which includes a delicious sauce, an accompanying sambal, and greens. Also, all this goes really well with Jasmine rice.

When preparing this recipe, think of it as making 4 different sub-recipes that will converge upon completion: 1) the pork belly and its spice paste, 2) the sauce, 3) the bean sprouts/sambal, and 4) the greens.

Note that you can treat the pork belly with the spice paste and let it sit in the refrigerator for several hours or a day. Keep that in mind if you’re in a situation where you can plan a day ahead.

It’s a little bit of work to collect the ingredients and make, but babi guling is well worth the effort.

What you’ll need for the pork belly, sauce and greens

• 3 lb. slab pork belly, broad and thin enough to roll
• 2.5t olive oil
• 300ml (about 10 oz) coconut milk
• 2t kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
• A bunch of bok choy
• 2t shallot or sesame oil (as a dressing for the bok choy)

What you’ll need for the spice Paste

• Juice of 1 lime (about 2T)
• 4 long red (Thai) chilis, deseeded
• 1 stalk of lemongrass, white part only, bruised and finely chopped
• 4 green onions (white tender part only) roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cm (1-inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cm (1-inch) piece of galangal, peeled and finely chopped
• 1T ground turmeric
• 1T ground coriander seeds
• 1T vegetable oil
• 1T palm sugar (light or dark brown sugar works)
• 2t ground black pepper
• 0.5t shrimp paste, if you have it. I didn’t. It’s not an exact swap, but I added 0.5t fish sauce, instead.
• 0.5t salt

What you’ll need for the sambal and bean sprouts

• 100g bean sprouts
• 4 green spring onions (the green parts)
• 2 small red chilies, deseeded
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 cm (0.5-inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 stalk lemongrass (white tender part only), bruised and finely chopped
• 2 fresh lime leaves
• 0.5t shrimp paste, if you have it
• Juice of half a lime (about 1T)
• 1T vegetable oil
• 0.5t tsp salt
• pinch of ground black pepper

What to do

Starting the pork belly

Note that you can do this step several hours or even a day before cooking, but heat your oven to 450 degrees F. right before you’re ready to cook.

To make the spice paste, process all the paste ingredients in a food processor to form a smooth paste. Reserve 0.25 cup for the sauce.

Prepare the pork belly by lightly pricking the meat-side of the slab with a sharp knife or skewer and rub the spice paste over it in a thick layer. Roll up the slab lengthwise and secure at several intervals with butchers’ string. Place the roll in a baking dish and rub salt into the skin/fat cap. You could cook it at this point or let it sit in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

When ready to cook, heat your oven to 450 degrees F and roast the pork for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temp to 350 degrees F. and cook for a further 1 hour 15 minutes or until tender and cooked through. In my experience, this did NOT take 1.25 hours. Maybe start checking the interior temperature with an instant-read thermometer at the 45-minute mark. When the pork is done (at least 145 degrees F), remove it from the oven and let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes, lightly covered with foil.

What to do for the sauce

While the pork is resting, it’s time to make the sauce and the sambal/sprouts and bok choy, if you haven’t already. Heat 2t neutral oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the reserved spice paste and cook it for 5 minutes or until fragrant. Stir in the coconut milk and juices from resting pork and bring it to a boil before putting it on simmer for about 5 minutes. At this point you could just keep it warm for serving.

What to do for the sambal/bean sprouts and bok choy

To make sambal, process all its ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

Cook the bean sprouts in a saucepan of boiling salted water until tender—about 1 or 1.5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Heat a lightly oiled frying pan and cook the sambal until fragrant. Add the bean sprouts, tossing them to combine. Stir in the kecap manis and keep warm.

In the same pot you used for the bean sprouts, boil the bok choy until tender—about 1.5 to 2 minutes—drain and place in a bowl. Add the shallot oil and toss the bok choy well.

At this point your 4 sub-recipes are done and ready to serve.

What to do to serve

For serving, slice the pork into 1-inch-wide pieces and plate them. Spoon the sauce over the meat, then add the sambal/bean sprouts and bok choy to the plate. Serve hot steamed jasmine rice in a separate bowl on the side.