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Babi Pongteh (Braised Pork with Fermented Soybean and Bamboo Shoots)

Name: Babi Pongteh (Braised Pork with Fermented Soybean and Bamboo Shoots)
Prep time: 2 h 10 min
Total time: 2 h 34 min
Cuisine: Peranakan
Ingredients: pork belly — 1000 g; shallots — 300 g; garlic — 40 g; taucheo — 59 g; shiitake mushrooms — 800 g; bamboo shoots — 200 g; potatoes — 400 g; brown sugar — 25 g; soy sauce — 22 g; vegetable oil — 74 g; white pepper — 5 g; water — 600 g

Babi Pongteh (Braised Pork with Fermented Soybean and Bamboo Shoots) reads umami 8.9, richness 7.5 and salinity 4.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Peranakan main, about 2 hr 34 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 9.7 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.6 / 10
Sour & Bright — 0.6 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 3.5 / 10
Rich & Fat — 7.8 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 4.3 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 8.9 · Richness 7.5 · Salinity 4.8 · Allium 4.1 · Funk & Ferment 3.6 · Sweetness 3.6 · Earthy 3.1 · Smoke 1.8 · Warm Spice 1.1 · Nutty 0.9 · Bitterness 0.9 · Heat 0.8 · Sourness 0.6 · Herbaceous 0.6

What's in it (12)

pork belly — 1000 g
shallots — 300 g
garlic — 40 g
taucheo — 59 g
shiitake mushrooms — 800 g
bamboo shoots — 200 g
potatoes — 400 g
brown sugar — 25 g
soy sauce — 22 g
vegetable oil — 74 g
white pepper — 5 g
water — 600 g

Time & effort: about 2 hr 34 min (2 hr 10 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 193.2 kcal, 3.9 g protein, 17.2 g fat, 5.7 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

Pound or blend the shallots and garlic to a coarse paste. Pongteh is unusual among Nyonya dishes in having no chilli and no lemongrass in its base: it is a shallot and fermented soybean dish, and the sweetness comes from cooking a very large quantity of shallots down slowly.
Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-low heat and fry the shallot paste for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring often. It will go pale, then blonde, then golden brown and jammy, and the oil will separate. Stop before it goes dark brown, which makes the finished gravy bitter.
Add the mashed taucheo and fry 4 minutes, mashing it into the oil until it smells nutty and toasty rather than sharply salty. Taucheo is Hokkien salted soybean paste; the Nyonya kitchen took it from its Chinese side, exactly as it took its rempah from its Malay side, and pongteh is the clearest single example of that creole grammar.
Add the pork and turn it in the paste over medium heat for 8 minutes until the fat has begun to render and the cubes are coated.
Stir in the dark soy sauce, palm sugar and white pepper, then pour in the water and mushroom liquid. Bring to a simmer, add the soaked mushrooms, cover and cook 60 minutes at a gentle simmer.
Add the potatoes and bamboo shoots and cook uncovered 30 minutes more, until the potatoes are soft enough to break at the edges and thicken the gravy, and the pork skin is completely yielding. The finished sauce should be dark, glossy and slightly sweet with a clear salty-fermented backbone.
Rest 20 minutes before serving with rice. Like most braises it is better the next day, and Nyonya households routinely cook it a day ahead.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Cocido Madrileño — Spanish
Rafute (Pork Belly Braised in Awamori and Black Sugar) — Japanese
Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Onion Gravy — American
Beef and Guinness Shepherd's Pie Stew — Irish
Guinness Beef Stew with Pearl Onions — Irish

Keep reading: what umami, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.