Humba

Humba - Sweet, tangy, and with a hint of peanut butter --- this dish is made with the use of a clay pot which produces pork shoulders that melt in your mouth. Add in the different flavors of the sauce and you have spoonfuls of succulent pork accompanied with a sauce that offers a full range of flavor and taste.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 kg Pork Shoulder, sliced into 1 ½” to 2” cubes
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• ½ cup Light soy sauce
• 20 ml Water
• 2 Laurel leaves whole
• 4 tbsp Brown sugar
• 2 tbsp peanut butter (better if the chunky kind)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Sesame seeds for garnish
• Clay pot with cover
• A charcoal grill

PROCEDURE:

1. Prepare the pork shoulder, slice them into 1 ½” to 2” thick cubes (you can ask the butcher to make the cut for you when you buy it in the super market)
2. In a bowl, combine the Olive oil, soy sauce, water, laurel leaves, and peanut butter. Add in sugar slowly whilst mixing, making sure everything is dissolved. If sugar is still seen settling at the bottom of the bowl, add in additional water as necessary. Put a pinch of salt and pepper to accentuate the taste.
3. Add the meat into the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for at least half an hour, turning the cubes over at the halfway point to ensure all sides of the cubed meat absorb the seasoned liquid mixture.
4. Fire up the coals until they get a nice red ember
5. Place the clay pot on top. You’ll know it is hot enough if you pour in a bit of water and see the droplets evaporate quickly.
6. Take the marinating pork shoulder cubes and transfer everything, including the marinade, into the clay pot.
7. Cover and let simmer until meat is tender; usually around 30 mins to an hour, depending on the temperature of the coals.

NOTES:

• As with any marinade, oil is very important. Their role is to let other sauces in the marinade penetrate the meat faster. Oil also helps in keeping the moisture of the meat with the marinade inside, lessening the amount lost due to cooking. 
• Red-hot coals should be placed at the bottom of the pack and the new ones on top. Cooking with a clay pot is a slow process. Coals that have bright red embers should be transferred at the bottom and new ones at the top.
• Do not lift the lid of the clay pot too often. The pressure created by the lid on the pot is critical in tenderizing the meat in the sauce.