Pork Humba

Pork Humba, Kusina Master

Humba is a sweet stewed pork dish that resembles the famous pork adobo in terms of appearance. Although the two dishes resembles in terms of appearance, Humba is "sweet, sour, and salty" all at once in taste while adobo is "sour and salty". Humba uses all the basic ingredients of adobo with the addition of brown sugar, salted black beans (tausi), and banana blossoms. Three parts of the pig such as pork belly, pork ham and pork hocks are the most common meat used in preparing this scrumptious Filipino dish. This is popular in the southern parts of the Philippines and is considered as one of the delicacies of the region. Pork belly, pork hocks, and pork ham are the 3 most common pig parts used to make this delightful masterpiece.

Humbang Baboy na may Pinya, Del Monte Recipes

Variation of this Humba recipe develops when you add other ingredients such as pineapple juice, herbs, mushrooms, chili peppers, potatoes, hard boiled eggs, dried shrimps, star anise, and oyster sauce.

Recipe

Preparation Time: 10 mins.
Cooking Time:1 hr. and 30 mins.

Pork Humba with Thick Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kilo pork belly, cut in serving pieces
• 1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 cup rice water
• 1/4 tablespoon ground black pepper (or whole peppercorn)
• 2 tablespoons salted black beans (tausi)
• 1/2 cup dried banana blossoms
• cooking oil

Cooking Tools Needed:

• bowls
• knife
• chopping board
• measuring spoons
• measuring cups
• casserole
• wooden spatula

Cooking Instructions:

1. Marinate pork in soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, and pepper for 30 minutes to one hour.
2. Saute garlic and onion.
3. Add pork from the marinade.
4. Stir fry for few minutes until pork starts to render its oily fats.
5. Add rice water and marinade. Bring to boil and then lower heat to medium fire.
6. Stew until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add brown sugar stirring once in a while. Simmer until an oily sauce consistency is achieved.
7. Balance seasoning with soy sauce, vinegar, or sugar according to your taste. Serve hot!

Cooking Tips:

• Adding 1 cup of pineapple juice along with the rice water and marinade will give you a better taste of Humba.
• Instead of using belly as your choice of pork, you can also use ham or hocks as substitute.

Video Tutorial:

Pork Humba with thick sauce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZnI-wQxraw

Significance to my Family

Humbang Baboy, Filipino Kitchen Recipes

The Filipino dish "Humba" is one of the most significant dishes in our family. Whenever there are occasions, birthdays, gatherings, therewould always be this so called "Sweet Adobo".

Maybe this dish became a favorite because most in our family have sweet tooth; loves eating sweets. Before, it was just an experiment dish because we were getting sick of the usual old-fashioned adobo, so my aunt made her own version and recipe of this dish. But later on, we dsicovered that there actually is a dish like that. So since that day, we dropped off the term "Sweet Adobo" and started calling it Pork Humba.

     Everyone in my family loves it! Not just because of the sweetness but also for it's creaminess and pleasant aroma. We like it even better when served with hot rice and eaten together with the whole family.

History

Hong-Ba, Chinese Red-Braised Pork Hock

          Pork Humba is popular in the regions of Visayas and Mindanao, there were different claims as to the origins of this delicious dish. One claims that it is Chinese in origin based on the assumption that the ingredients of soy sauce, brown sugar, and tausi were all Chinese by influence. Furthermore, Pork Humba is also very similar to Chinese Hong-ba recipe in terms of flavor and cooking preparation. 

          Another claims that it is indigenous because Humba sounds like Umba (visayan term) but it contradicts the fact that Humba is using some of the ingredients brought to the Philippines by the Chinese. Or maybe, just maybe that this recipe was created indigenously by the Cebuanos using the modern day indigenous ingredients in Cebu. Some believe that Humba evolved from the Philippine famous Adobo dish because it uses its base ingredients. Whichever claim is true, I believe that this delicious Humba recipe was created because of the ingenuity and innovative culinary skills of the Filipinos.