Humba

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork belly, cut into 5 cm cubes
• 6 tbsp soy sauce
• 5 tbsp cane vinegar
• 3 tbsp muscovado sugar
• 2 tbsp tausi (salted black beans), rinsed
• 1 whole head garlic, cloves peeled and crushed
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 20 g dried banana blossoms, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes
• 4 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
• 1 tbsp neutral oil

Before you cook

• Cut the pork belly into generous cubes, keeping the skin on.
• Rinse the salted black beans under running water to take off the surface salt.
• Soak the dried banana blossoms in warm water until pliable, then squeeze them dry.
• Hard-boil and peel the eggs.

Steps

1. Put the pork belly in a bowl with the soy sauce, crushed garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves.
2. Turn it over with your hands and leave it to marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat.
4. Lift the pork out of the marinade, letting the excess drip off, and brown it in batches for 4 minutes a side.
5. Return all the pork and the marinade to the pot along with the cup of water.
6. Pour in the cane vinegar and let the pot come to a boil without stirring for 3 minutes, so the vinegar sharpness burns off.
7. Turn the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for 75 minutes.
8. Check that a fork slides into the pork with no resistance, and give it another 20 minutes if it does not.
9. Stir in the muscovado sugar, the rinsed black beans, the pineapple juice and the drained banana blossoms.
10. Add the peeled boiled eggs and roll them in the sauce so they take on colour.
11. Simmer uncovered for a final 20 minutes, spooning the sauce over the pork every few minutes.
12. Stop when the sauce is dark, syrupy and just clings to the meat rather than pooling around it.
13. Taste and add a splash more vinegar if the sweetness has run away with it.
14. Serve with rice, cutting each egg in half at the table.