Kristang pork with vegetables: babi lodeh technique

Kristang community, Malacca, Malaysia

Babi lodeh is the Kristang version of the Malay lodeh (vegetable braise in coconut milk) adapted for pork — a preparation that uses the lodeh technique (light coconut milk broth with lemongrass, galangal, and mild spicing) but adds pork as the protein and uses lard as the cooking fat. It is the most domestically everyday Kristang pork dish — quicker to cook than feng or kari debal, lighter in spice, and adaptable to whatever vegetables are available. Vegetable selection: traditionally includes long beans (kacang panjang), cabbage, young jackfruit (nangka muda), tofu, tempeh, and occasional additions of carrots and aubergine. The light rempah (shallots, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, fresh chili, small amount of belacan) is fried in lard, thinly sliced pork belly is added and cooked briefly, then thin coconut milk is added with the vegetables in order of cooking time — hardest vegetables first, leafy greens last. The lodeh sauce should remain loose and brothy — this is not a curry and should not be reduced to a thick sauce. The light aromatics and brothy coconut milk allow the individual flavours of each vegetable to be clearly tasted. Kristang babi lodeh differs from Malay lodeh primarily through the pork and lard — the technique and vegetable selection are inherited. Service: poured over rice in a deep bowl, with the broth distributed throughout the grain.

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Light, fragrant, coconut-sweet with aromatic lemongrass and galangal threading through — the most approachable of the Kristang pork preparations. The pork belly fat enriches the coconut broth as it cooks; the vegetables absorb the spiced coconut character and lose their raw edges. Gentle, complete, satisfying.