PATA TIM

The pata hamonado from a few weeks ago, pata tim is a dish which consists of a whole pork leg cooked low and slow in a sweet and salty sauce. But while pineapple juice is the basis for hamonado, the addition of star anise is what determines the flavors of pata tim. My peeps, this braised pork dish is the very definition of delicious. The pork is so tender, it literally melts in your mouth. And, oh my, the sauce! To sin for.

Let me tell you more on how I prepared this good looking pata tim (the details can be found on the recipe below). I started out by baking the pig’s leg in the oven. I do this in order to prevent the skin from breaking-up or getting torn when boiling or cooking it in the pressure cooker later on. I do this by rubbing salt and oil all over the leg then place it in the oven to bake until the skin gets partially cooked. An alternative to this method is pan-frying. Instead of baking, pan-fry the leg in the stove top using a wide frying pan.

It is very important to have the legs very tender at the end. This means that you either boil it forever or use a pressure cooker to simplify and speed-up the process. Stove-top pressure cookers, which are the regular cooker that you might have works best. You can also use an electric pressure cooker, like the one that in cooking this dish.

Shitake mushrooms is a big part of your pata tim’s success. I strongly recommend this ingredient. I suggest that you use dried shitake mushrooms, instead of the fresh ones. In my opinion, these tastes better. Make sure that you soak the mushroom in water before you throw it in. Do not forget to include the water that you soaked it with because it contains a lot of mushroom flavor by then.

1 Pata (pork leg about 1-1/2 kilo)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tspn. whole black peppers
3 star anise
3-4 tablspns. brown sugar
1 laurel leaf
2 tblspns. soy sauce
6 black mushrooms
5 pcs. Taiwan Pechay
2 tablspns. corn starch
1 tspn. salt

Recipe:
Place the pork leg in a pot and add some water to cover the pork. Add the garlic, laurel leaf, salt, soy and start anise and boil for an hour with the skin facing down.

After an hour, turn the leg over and add the brown sugar on the skin. Continue boiling (medium heat) for another hour and a half or until the pork is tender. Then set the pork aside and boil the mushrooms and the pechay until tender and set aside.

With the liquid in the pot, add a half cup of water diluted with corn starch and continue boiling until the sauce thickens. Arrange the veggies on a semi deep platter and place the pork leg on top. Pour the sauce and serve.