Pata Hamonado is a delicious and comforting dish, as far as I am concerned. I like it best when eaten with very warm rice. I usually scoop freshly cooked rice from the rice cooker while it is still piping hot, and immediately pour some sauce over it. I like how the tender skin literally melts in my mouth while my palate gets pampered.
I often prepare for dinner. My family enjoys it over a good conversation. This is our reward for all the work done for the day.
How to Cook Pata Hamonado
There is a bit of preparation involved before cooking pork pata hamonado. The pork hock needs to be boiled to remove its impurities. I do this by boiling 4 cups of water in a pot that is large enough to accommodate the pata. The minimum time of boiling is 15 minutes. Sometimes, I extend up to 30 minutes if there are still hair attached to it. Boiling makes the skin softer. This makes it easier to pull or scrape the hair off the pork leg. Make sure to discard the water afterwards.
Now we ready to cook! I start by sautéing the aromatics. We’ll need garlic and onion for this recipe. It does not matter which aromatic to sauté first. I found it better to do the onion before the garlic. The garlic gets browned perfectly by the time the onion softens.
The porks hock should have been cleaned at this point. Put the pork into the pot and pour soy sauce, water, and pineapple juice. My hamonado dishes always involve soy sauce and pineapple juice. The juice is derived from the canned pineapple chunks. Half of the pineapple can also be added. Save the rest for later.
This is when I pressure cook everything. Try not to cook it longer than 25 minutes if you want the pork hocks to retain its shape. Otherwise, it can fall apart due to intense pressure. The meat still needs to be boiled later to reduce the sauce. This will tenderize the pork further.
I use a piece of Knorr Pork Cube to give my pata hamonado that solid pork taste. I also add brown sugar to sweeten it up a bit. The remaining pineapples can be added at the end of the cooking process so that it will still look bright and vibrant for presentation purposes
You might also want to check the chicken counterpart: Chicken Hamonado
Try this Pata Hamonado Recipe. Let me know what you think.
Pata Hamonado
Ingredients
- 3 ½ lbs pork hock pata, sliced or whole
- 1 piece Knorr Pork Cube
- 20 ounces pineapple chunks in can
- 1 piece onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 5 pieces dried bay leaves
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 teaspoon whole peppercorn
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Boil 4 cups of water in a cooking pot. Add pork hock. Let boil for 15 minutes. Discard water. Set the pork aside.
- Heat cooking oil in a cooking pot. Saute garlic and onion.
- Add the boiled pork hock once the onion softens.
- Pour soy sauce, pineapple juice, and water. Let boil. Add whole peppercorn and dried bay leaves Pressure cook for 18 minutes. Note: if not using a pressure cooker, boil pork for 90 minutes on a regular cooking pot. Make sure to add water if the liquid is about to dry-up.
- Add Knorr Pork Cube, brown sugar, and pineapple chunks. Stir. Let it simmer until the sauce reduces to half.
- Season with salt. Transfer to a serving plate. Serve with rice. Share and enjoy!
Tried this and it was a success! I didn’t use a pressure cooker so I had to boil the pork hock longer to make it tender. This recipe has a balance of sweetness and saltiness which will make you ask for another cup of rice. Also, aside from bay leaves and pineapple chunks, I used star anise (for more aroma) and banana blossoms. I’m gonna make this dish again this week. Yay! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
I appreciate your feedback. Thank you for trying the recipe.