Pata Tim

A whole hock braised until it collapses, in a sweet star anise soy.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 1 whole pork hock, about 1.5 kg, skin on
• 150 ml soy sauce
• 80 g brown sugar
• 3 star anise
• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked
• 8 garlic cloves and 1 onion
• 200 g bok choy
• 1 litre water, plus the mushroom soaking liquid
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 2 tablespoons oil

Method

1. Brown the whole hock all over in the oil in a deep pot. It is cooked and served WHOLE — this is not a cubed braise like humba or adobo, and the collapsing joint on the plate is the dish.
2. Add the soy, sugar, star anise, garlic, onion, the soaked mushrooms and their strained liquid, and water to come two thirds up.
3. Cover and braise on the lowest heat for 3 TO 4 HOURS, turning the hock every hour so all of it spends time submerged.
4. It is ready when the skin is translucent and a spoon goes through the meat with no effort at all. Underdone pata tim is simply pork in sweet soy; the texture is the whole point.
5. THREE STAR ANISE AND NO MORE. It is the defining aromatic and it takes over completely at four — the dish should smell of it faintly rather than taste of liquorice.
6. Lift the hock out, blanch the bok choy in the braising liquid, and arrange it round the joint.
7. Thicken the strained liquid with the cornflour slaked in cold water, to a glossy sauce, and pour it over.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes