Pochero

Luzon·Medium·35 min active + 1 hour 55 min resting

Spanish-Filipino beef-and-banana stew with chickpeas, cabbage, and saba banana — the colonial inheritance turned Sunday lunch.

Pochero descends from Spanish cocido — the boiled-meats-and-chickpeas Madrid lunch — but the Philippines added saba bananas, sweet potato, and a tomato-based broth. Each region has its variant: Tagalog Manila pochero uses beef shanks, Pampanga uses pork hocks, Visayas pochero is closer to nilaga. The dish exemplifies the way Spanish colonial dishes were 'creolized' by local fruits and starches into something fundamentally Filipino.

Spoon pochero onto rice: tomato-stained beef chunks, sweet saba banana that's gone almost custardy, chickpeas firm enough to bite, cabbage barely wilted. The sweet-savory combination is unmistakably Filipino-Spanish; fish sauce on the side adds the third dimension.

Saba bananas have higher starch and lower sugar than dessert bananas — they soften without disintegrating during long simmer, releasing a subtle sweetness that balances the tomato acid. The chickpeas absorb 4× their weight in liquid; soaking overnight is essential for even cooking.

Variations

Manila Tagalog pochero uses beef shank; Pampanga uses pork hocks (pochero ng baboy); Cebu Visayas pochero is closer to a clear nilaga broth — three colonial creolizations.

On the Palate

Where Pochero sits in the Filipino flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

for servingFish Sauce

1 tspSalt

1 tspBlack Pepper

How it's made

5 steps · 35 min active + 1 hour 55 min waiting

1
13 min
In a heavy pot, brown 1kg cubed beef shank in 3 tbsp oil over high heat, 8 min. Add 1 chopped onion and 4 minced garlic; cook 5 min.
Watch out
Get a real dark-brown crust on the beef before the onions go in — that fond on the pan bottom is where the broth's depth comes from.
2
5 min
Add 6 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground black pepper; stir 2 min until fragrant. Cover with 2.5L water; bring to simmer.
Watch out
Fry the tomato paste a couple minutes until it darkens and smells sweet instead of tinny — raw paste leaves the broth sour and flat.
3
95 min
Cover and braise for 1.5 hours until beef is tender. Add 200g pre-soaked chickpeas in last 30 min.
4
17 min
Add 4 saba bananas (halved), 2 sweet potatoes (chunks), 1 small cabbage (quartered) to the pot. Simmer 15 min until tender.
Watch out
Add the saba bananas and vegetables only for the last stretch — they should go soft but still hold their shape, not melt into the broth.
5
5 min
Stir in 100g long beans cut into 5cm lengths. Cook 3 min. Adjust salt and pepper. Serve with rice and patis (fish sauce) on the side.