Pork Humba Recipe: delicious Filipino sweet, salty & sour pork belly

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Do you love Pork Adobo? If yes, the Pork Humba Recipe also will probably come to mind, right? It’s not very expensive but everyone will truly enjoy having this on the dining table.

Originating in the Northern part of the Philippines, this Filipino Food is somewhat a take-off from a famous Chinese dish; Pata Tim.

Filipinos love foods that are rich in flavor and this is definitely one of those dishes that has a strong flavor.

Pork Humba Recipe

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Pork Humba Recipe Tips and Preparation

Whether you’re already a wife or mother who’s so used to cooking for the family or a new housewife wanting to please her husband and visitors during the holidays or even in other special occasions, this Pork Humba Recipe is worth trying since it’s quite easy to prepare.

It takes just about 15 minutes of preparation and one hour of cooking time. Just see to it that you choose fresh pork belly along with the other ingredients.

If you love dried banana blossoms, it will be nice to have plenty of it. It will also blend with the color of the dish.

If you’re not into too much sour taste, make sure that you follow the exact measurement of the vinegar and it would also be nice if you’ll use a dark soy sauce to make the color more enticing.

Also read: this is the secret to perfect hamonadong pata

Pork Humba in a bowl

History:
The history of this dish is a bit exhilarating. It was called a “buried” dish, especially during the war. How is that, you may be thinking.

Well, as everyone knows, it was hard to move around during the war and there was food shortage too.

So what the people do was cook a slab of meat with all the ingredients and flavors in it. Once it’s cooked, they let it cool down for a while then cover the pot with plastic.

They will then dig a small hole in the ground and this is where they will hide the dish.

They say that even after a few months of being buried in the ground, the taste is truly wonderful once they dug it up.

The history if this enticing dish is like folklore which you may also want to share with your kids while they are savoring what you have prepared for them.

The kids will surely get thrilled to know how the Humba started and will be excited to tell their friends and classmates about it.

Of course, it’s not being done during the present time anymore especially because people are always in a hurry to do just about anything.

After cooking any food, it is already for consumption. They can’t wait that long.

Pork Humba in a bowl

Filipino Pork humba recipe

Joost Nusselder
The Pork Humba Recipe is worth trying since it’s easy to prepare. The Recipe is made of Pork Belly or Pork Kasim, Sugar, Vinegar, and Soy Sauce.
No ratings yet
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Filipino
Servings 7 people
Calories 568 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 kilo pork belly or knuckles cleaned
  • ¾ cup vinegar
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 20 whole peppercorns
  • 1 head garlic cracked
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • cups water
  • 2 small packs of native mushrooms or tenga ng daga
  • 2 small packs banana blossoms
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ cup canola oil

Instructions
 

  • In a large Bowl, marinate the Pork belly in a dash of vinegar, soy sauce, peppercorns and garlic for 1 hour.
  • Place brown sugar in a plate. When Pork Belly are fully marinated, dip each piece in brown sugar and pan fry on medium-high heat until golden brown. Remove and put aside until all pieces are done.
  • In the same pan, put all the meat back and pour in all the marinade plus the water. Bring to a boil then lower flame immediately to medium-low then to a simmer to tenderize the meat. After simmering for about 45 minutes, the sauce will noticeably start to thicken.
  • Add salt and allow to simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.
  • In a separate bowl, soak the native mushrooms and banana blossoms in water for 15 minutes. Once softened, add to the simmering pot of meat. Cook until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick.
  • Best served with Hot Rice.

Nutrition

Calories: 568kcal
Keyword Pork
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Filipino Pork humba recipe

Serving:
Everything that is prepared now must be eaten now; that’s how it is practiced now.

You can say that the Pork Humba Recipe of the present generation is quite different from that of our forefathers but it is still as savory as in the past.

Salamat.

Want a little different spice? Try this Pork Asado Recipe (Asadong Baboy) with star anise & five-spices

Check out our new cookbook

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Joost Nusselder, the founder of Bite My Bun is a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new food with Japanese food at the heart of his passion, and together with his team he's been creating in-depth blog articles since 2016 to help loyal readers with recipes and cooking tips.