Patatim Recipe

This dish is one of the very famous Pinoy-Chinese dish that is made out of slowly boiled pork leg until became very tender. Its flavor came from the mixture of rice wine, garlic, star anise, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, pork broth, cornstarch, and salt. Patatim is a dish being cooked in a manner similar to Paksiw na Pata, only there is no use of vinegar. Being boiled in a long time, the recipe has a very thick sauce and the meat almost separate to the bone. Because the dish is very popular in Authentic Chinese food, establishments in the Philippines such as restaurants and specifically to hawker stalls in Binondo which is enclave in Manila where it is mostly populated by Chinese immigrants. The place is the oldest Chinatown in the world being established on 1594. Even though the traditional cooking of patatim is with dried shitake mushrooms and several over blanched vegetables such as broccoli or bok choy, but the non-Filipino-Chinese version uses banana blossoms and cardaba bananas instead. Nowadays, this recipe continues to evolve as creative cooks and chefs try to variete it by adding additional ingredients or substitutions such as bay leaves, mustard leaves, pineapple juice, dried squid, spring onions, onions, honey, cinnamon, peppercorns and other ingredient they can think of suitable to this dish. This dish may be from Chinese, but it is enjoyed by most Filipinos, a mouth-watering dish.

Ingredients:

1.2-1.5 kilo pork legs (pata front)
1 tbsp. sesame oil
2 pcs. star anise
½ cup soy sauce
2 tbsp. hoisin sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
6 cups water
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup rice wine
1 tsp. black peppercorn
1 tsp. sesame oil
¼ cup slurry
5 pcs. baby bokchoy, blanched
10 shiitake mushrooms

Cooking Instructions:

Place the pata in a casserole with 6 cups of water, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, brown sugar, pepper corns and bring to a boil.
Add the star anise and sesame oil, simmer for an hour, or until pork is tender.
Remove the pork and set aside, then add slurry to the pot. Let it simmer until sauce is glossy and thickened.
Blanch the bokchoy in boiling water seasoned with salt.
To serve, place the pork in the middle of a serving dish then serve with blanched bokchoy and lastly pour the sauce over the pork and vegetables.
Garnish with spring onions and serve with rice or steamed buns.