Indonesian Brown Bean soup with Babi Ketjap

This is a simple dish full with nutrition, filled with vitamin B, calcium and iron. It is also good food for when you are sick, easy digestible and still gives you the vitamins you need. Every week my mother would bring over a pot of soup for my aunt who had terminal cancer.

While the ingredients are pretty straight forward, it tastes the best when you slow cook it. Because it is hard to get brown beans in the UK/Ireland and red kidney beans not a good alternative you can use borlotti beans. I prefer using the dried beans and leave them to soak for 8 hours but you can use the canned ones too.

Brown Bean Soup:

• 250 grams of brown beans (borlotti beans)
• 1,5 liters of water
• 3 beef stock cubes (vegan substitute: vegetable stock cubes)
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 leek, cut in thin rings
• olive oil

If you have dried beans, soak them overnight for at least 8 hours. First you cut your onion in half and slice it in thin rings and finely chop your garlic cloves. Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a big pot and fry the onion rings and garlic over medium heat and set them aside when they are done.

Remove beans from the soak water and refresh it with 1,5 litres of cold water and put it to a boil adding the stock cubes. When the water boils, turn it on medium heat for an hour while gently stirring it every 15 minutes. After an hour, turn to low heat and add the fried onions and garlic and cook it for another hour or two. Add water if needed. During the last 30 minutes add the thinly sliced leek. 

Babi Ketjap:

• pork belly slices
• 5 tablespoons sweet soy sauce (can be found at the Asian supermarket)
• olive oil

Cut the pork belly slices in thin strips, about half a centimetre wide. Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan on medium heat and add the pork belly. When the pink is no longer visible on the meat you will drizzle 5 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce over it and gentle turn the meat in the soy sauce. Turn your heat on low because soy sauce has the tendency to burn and let it stew for two hours. Keep checking it and add a little water when you notice the juices getting low. It will turn from light brown to dark brown while stewing in the soy sauce.

Vegan alternative: marinaded tofu

Serve it with either white rice or yellow rice. Yellow rice is a posh version of rice with cardamom and turmeric often eaten during celebrations. Top it with crispy fried onions and you are good to go. The crispy fried onions can be bought anywhere, Lidl, Tesco, Asda and Ikea have it but I prefer buying mine in the bulk at the Asian supermarket. They have kilo bags. ;) Also tasty on hot dogs and fried rice.

You will notice that I do not add salt. Indonesian food depends on the flavours of the ingredients and spices. I once had the horrible experience of making Soto Ayam (Indonesian chicken soup) and people adding salt to it. Blasphemy!