Comments on: Humba or Umba / Braised Pork with Palm Sugar and Black Beans

By: hvince

hvince — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:54:08 +0000

HUMBA is a must try for everyone that likes sweets. This is most common in Cebu, it bothers me why there are a lot of food in Cebu that does not get to Manila. This is a sweet kind of ADOBO, basically almost the same kind of cooking. Yes, it is similar to Pata Tim in Chinese but is different since it does not taste fatty and oily and is sweeter and softer. While eating this, I could finish eating 5 cups of rice.

By: Coco Sugar

Coco Sugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:33:17 +0000

Panocha is NOT palm sugar. It is traditionally made from sugar canes.

The only traditional palm sugar I know is pakaskas, sugar made from the Buri Palm tree.

Of course, coco palm sugars are now produced in the Philippines but not an ethnic food in general.

Robyn, Malaysian palm sugars: gula kelapa(coco sugar), gula melaka, gula anau. Indonesian palm sugars: gula jawa(literally, Javanese sugar. May be made from cocos, nypa or arenga.), gula aren (palmyra sugar)

Visit our homepage: https://cocopalmsugar.sch.ph

By: gul paag machado, new york

gul paag machado, new york — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 09:00:36 +0000

wa ko feel magsahog ng star anise….nahihilo ako sa amoy!!!

By: annmariemarie

annmariemarie — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:51:53 +0000

Ahh! Humba pala ang tawag! I grew up simply calling this dish ‘Paksiw na Pata’. My mom used to cook this with no mushrooms. No anise. Just banana blossoms, brown sugar, and yes, lots of black pepper. All simmered and reduced to a thick yummy sauce. Awww!

By: akim

akim — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:28:21 +0000

Humba is available at any Via Mare Restaurant here in Manila. I miss Humba so much, never eaten humba for like ages na. In Samar, where i grew up, Special occasion is not complete with-out Humba being serve on the table.

By: mabel

mabel — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 10:44:37 +0000

Well for me this the very delicious food that I have tasted.

By: millet

millet — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 01:00:18 +0000

my in-laws have a waray version of humba which includes peanuts. it does nothing for the dish, and i think the peanuts sometimes cloud the sauce, so i don’t really like it. i prefer your “traditional” version, and i make more than enough so there are leftover to put in “cua pao” buns. you’re right, pork belly is ideal, and if i were 20 years younger, i would say the slow-cooked quivering melt-in-your-mouth pork fat under the skin is best. but since i’m not…..(big, big sigh!)

By: Mandy

Mandy — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 05:51:49 +0000

i love humba, with my rice swimming in the sauce. but i do not like the banana blossom in it. it makes the dish taste mapakla-y and i dunno what. i prefer it plain. :)

By: Marketman

Marketman — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:31:33 +0000

Robyn, our palm sugar is of the lighter variety. I have a picture of it somewhere in my archives and if I find it I will add a link here. Go to the last picture of this link to see a photo of Philippine palm sugar – https://www.marketmanila.com/archives/maruya-a-la-marketman Many times, in local homes, a nice dark brown sugar is substituted (like muscovado)as palm sugar is not so readily available anymore… choy, I am almost convinced this is a Chinese dish… Doddie, I think the black beans are imperative for this recipe, try a chinese store the next time you are in a big town like Seoul. You can use dark brown sugar instead of palm sugar. Rice wine you can skip if you really can’t get it. RobKSA, I don’t think beef would work too well as it doesn’t have that fatty gelatenous feel but you can try and let us know how it worked out! Fried neurons, this is a really easy recipe to make if you have the ingredients!

By: Robyn

Robyn — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 11:20:45 +0000

Is palm sugar in the Philippines closer to Indonesian/Malaysian palm sugar (very dark, with a nice bitter edge) or Thai palm sugar (light tan)? (Gotta know before I try this dish!) And where is it made (I’m assuming Phil. has a palm sugar industry?)?