Humba

Pork braised dark and sweet with fermented black beans, which is what adobo has not got.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg pork belly, in 4 cm cubes
• 3 tablespoons fermented black beans (tausi), rinsed
• 80 g brown sugar
• 120 ml soy sauce
• 80 ml cane vinegar
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 bay leaves
• 30 g dried banana blossom, soaked, optional
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 400 ml water
• 2 tablespoons oil

Method

1. Brown the pork cubes in the oil in batches.
2. Return them with the soy, garlic, bay, peppercorns and water, and simmer covered for 60 minutes.
3. Add the vinegar and let it boil openly for 5 minutes without stirring, as for an adobo.
4. NOW THE TWO THINGS THAT MAKE IT HUMBA AND NOT ADOBO: the rinsed fermented black beans, and the brown sugar. Adobo has neither. The beans give a dark salty funk and the sugar takes it sweet, and together they turn a sharp braise into a sticky one.
5. Rinse the beans first. Straight from the jar they are aggressively salty and the dish already has soy in it.
6. Add the soaked banana blossom if using and simmer uncovered another 30 minutes, until the sauce is dark and syrupy and clings to the pork.
7. Taste before adding any salt. Between soy and tausi there will almost certainly be none needed.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes