Humba (braised pork belly)

I'm visiting my son during this long Christmas holiday so I have obliged and cooked humba for him. Today, I woke up early to go to the wet market in Guadalupe, Makati City to buy the leanest pork belly I could find. Is there a lean pork belly or is this an oxymoron?

After lunch, I called up my sister in San Francisco, CA. to greet her a merry christmas before the phone lines get clogged. In the course of our conversation, I asked her what she was preparing for Christmas dinner. She said she was going to cook humba using the recipe I sent her. I told her, how coincidental as I had cooked humba a few hours earlier. I don't have a photo for now but I hope you can imagine how it will look like. Here's the recipe of my Cebuano version of humba:

Humba (braised pork belly)

1 1/5 kg pork belly (cut up in chunks)
2 tbsp canned salted black beans (crush beans with back of spoon or ladle)
1/3 cup vinegar
6 segments garlic (pounded)
2 tsp black peppercorns (crushed)
2 bay leaves
2 star anise
2 tbsp brown sugar (preferably muscovado)
1 1/2 cup water

Heat a thick cooking pot and pan fry pork chunks till light brown to render the fat. Drain oil from pot and set pork aside. Stir in sugar and melt in low heat.[Note: If you're on a low-carb diet, you can substitute 1 sachet of Splenda for the brown sugar.] Mix all ingredients - Simmer in low fire for about 45 minutes or until the pork chunks are tender. You may have to add more water to avoid drying up. Make sure there's about 1/3cup liquid left in pot when pork is cooked.

Serve hot with steamed rice.