How to Cook Pata Hamonado
This hamonado recipe is a whole pork pata version of the usual pork hamonado where the meat used is pork belly slab or pork shoulder.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 364kcal
Ingredients
- 1 whole Pork hock or pork pata
- salt to taste (for rubbing the pork pata)
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1/4 cup minced onion
- 3-4 pcs star anise
- 3 pcs bay leaves or laurel leaves
- 1 tsp whole black pepper or black peppercorns
- 1 pc cinnamon stick (optional)
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil for sautéing
- 2 cups pineapple juice
- 4 cups water (or just enough to cover the pata)
- 3 tbsp vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- salt to taste
- 1 cup pineapple chunks
- 1/2 pc sliced red bell peppers
- 1 Tbsp. cornstarch + 2 Tbsp. water slurry to thicken
Instructions
How to Cook Pata Hamonado
- Remove hairs and nails of the whole pork pata. Wash and drain and let it dry. Rub with salt and let it stand for a few hours.
- In a large pot, heat cooking oil and sauté onion, garlic, laurel leaves, star anise, black peppercorns and cinnamon sticks (optional).
- Add the pork pata in the pot and sear the skin until slightly brown. Add pineapple juice, water, vinegar, soy sauce, tomato sauce and brown sugar.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour or until almost tender. Then add pineapples, bell pepper and cornstarch slurry.
- Then simmer again until the pork is tender while basting the pata skin with the sauce.
- When cooked, transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the pineapples and bell peppers on top while pouring the sauce on the pata. Serve hot.
Notes
Pork Pata or Pork Hocks
Although you can use any parts of the pig in cooking the hamonado dish, using the whole pork pata is more presentable and appetizing on the dining table. And serving pork pata is usually done in special occasions rather than serving it on ordinary days. But it's up to you if you are going to use pork belly slabs or sliced pork pata in cooking this dish.
Pineapple Juice
I think there is no better substitute on using pineapple juice when cooking hamonado. But if you can't really find pineapple juice or you have an allergy on pineapples, I think using orange juice is a good substitute.
Star Anise
This is also one of the most important ingredients in cooking hamonado. There a distinctive taste using this spice. If you are not familiar with star anise, I can describe it as a star shaped seed that has a fragrant odor similar to anise seeds and has a flavor that is reminiscent of licorice.