Coming to the Netherlands

It is a famous and beloved dish in the Netherlands associated with Chinese restaurants, but it carries an Indonesian name. Babi pangang came to the Netherlands from Indonesia. In Malaysia and Indonesia, babi pangang, spelled babi panggang, refers to a variety of dishes made of roasted pork. In Bahasa Indonesia, babi means pork and panggang means roasted. So babi panggang actually means roasted pork.

In Indonesia, it is known as a dish where marinated pork is roasted and then served with a spicy sauce made of sambal and pig’s blood.See TasteAtlas It is associated with non-Muslim groups, such as the Batak in North-Sumatra.

Nevertheless, the origins of babi pangang remain disputed. Likely, an older variant of the dish was brought to Indonesia via Chinese immigrants, and was then adapted to suit local tastes.See Marcel Maassen in the De Volkskrant

Babi pangang had thus already gained popularity in Indonesia, and was also eaten by the Dutch who lived in their then-colony. The popularity of babi pangang grew with the popularity of Chinese-Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands in the latter half of the 20th century. The love for babi pangang in the Netherlands goes so deep, that a day in celebration of babi pangang is actually being planned!See Stichting Meer Dan Babi Pangang And of course, the dish has also transformed into a fried version, similar to the famous Dutch snack called croquette. If you were not up for going outside, you could also take a few cans of pre-made babi pangang home to prepare when you want.