Recipe: Jenny’s Slow Cooker Patatim

The slow cooker that I have in the house is the same cooker that I used to watch my mom cook pot roast in it when I was a little girl in Butuan City. It’s a sturdy and reliable piece of kitchen equipment that has been underused for so many years and it found its way back to my kitchen here in Cebu. My parents don’t use it much anymore but lately, I’m getting fond of using it since it makes preparing meals easier for me. My dad says it doesn’t take up much electricity bill since it uses a relatively low heat. In my case, if not too busy or tired, I usually prep slow cooked meals late in the evening when everyone is getting into bed. Hehehe. It’s a kind of me-time when the house quiet and peaceful, you know what I mean. Prep in the evening and you have a meal when you wake up in the morning.  

Pata Tim is an occasional treat I make in the house when everyone is well behaved, just kidding. It’s a bit labor intensive but I like to make this whenever there’s a special occasion coming up or bring this to a potluck party. I made this around 10:00 pm, start cooking at 11:00 pm and finish cooking by 6:00 am. Other versions Sprite or 7-UP as replacement liquid for the water in this recipe but I find it too sweet. 

Slow Cooker Pata Tim

by Jenny Sibi

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 7 hours

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Ingredients (8-12 persons)

• 1.5 kg or 1,500 g Pork pata, (front or hind)
• Water for blanching
• 3 pcs rehydrated Shitake mushrooms, liquid reserved
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• Cooking Oil
• 1/4 cup Xiaoxing wine
• Liquid from rehydrated mushrooms
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp. black vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 star anise
• 2 tsp. Whole peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon five spice powder
• Water to cover the pata
• Blanched green vegetables
• Slurry made from 1 tablespoon camote starch and 1/2 cup water.

Instructions

1. Boil water and blanch the pata for 10 mins. Drain and wash pata, removing the scum that came out from blanching and pat dry. Place pata in the slow cooker.
2. Rehydrate the dried Shitake mushrooms in a cup of hot water. Drain and save the liquid.
3. Sauté the chopped onions and garlic in oil until fragrant and Add the xiaoshing wine, mushroom liquid, oyster sauce, soy sauce and black vinegar. Pour this over the pata in the slow cooker.
4. In the same pan, caramelize the brown sugar in small amount of oil until it’s golden and add a cup of water. Toss in the star anise, peppercorns, bayleaf five spice powder. Heat it through and pour this over the pata in the slow cooker. This will make the pata brown in color when finished cooking.
5. Add more water until it covers the meat. Set the cooker on low and cook for seven hours or overnight.
6. When pata is tender, carefully lift out the whole leg and place in a deep serving dish. Cover and set aside. You can keep it warm in the oven, covered with low heat.
7. Strain the sauce through a sieve and discard the solid pieces. Store the sauce in a bowl refrigerate for an hour. Remove and discard the solidified fat on the surface and reheat the sauce in a pan. Add the whole Shitake mushrooms and thicken with camote starch slurry.
8. Pour over the pata and arrange the blanched vegetables of your choice around the dish.
9. Best served with mantou buns.

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