A spin on the Filipino dish called paksiw na pata ng baboy — sliced pork hock stewed in vinegar, brown sugar and soy sauce with bulaklak ng saging (banana blossoms) and sprigs of dried oregano.
Note, however, that bulaklak ng saging is a misnomer. They are actually dried lily buds. But if you go looking for dried lily buds in the market or grocery, you won’t find any. Filipino cooking vocabulary has been stuck with the misnomer for as long as I can remember. That’s what my grandparents and parents called them. I don’t know of any Filipino cook who calls them by any other name including those who know that they do not come from the banana plant.
But that’s just an aside. This is not, strictly speaking, paksiw na pata ng baboy but a version of it. It has the signature sweet sour flavor, and the bite of garlic and ginger. But there’s no need to go looking for bulaklak ng saging because it is not included in the ingredients.
Pork hock stewed in balsamic-pineapple sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pork hock cut into one-inch slices (or about 1.2 kilos of pork chops or pork steaks)
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 6 cloves garlic peeled and lightly pounded
- 1 two-inch knob ginger peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 onion peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
- 2 to 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 2 bird’s eye chilies chopped
- 2 pairs kaffir lime leaves thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- fish sauce or salt, to taste
- 3 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
- 2 cups pineapple chunks
- ¼ cup pickle slices
Instructions
- Pat the pork hock slices dry with paper towels.
- Heat the cooking oil in a wide, flat-bottomed pan. Swirl to coat the entire bottom.
- Brown the pork on both sides, in batches if necessary.
- Scoop out the pork and move to a plate.
- In the remaining oil, saute the garlic, ginger and onion. Pour in about a quarter cup of pineapple juice to deglaze. Scrape off any browned bits stuck on the bottom of the pan to get all the flavor into the sauce that you’re building.
- Stir in the brown sugar, chopped chilies, kaffir lime leaves and paprika.
- Add the pork back into the pan.
- Pour in the balsamic vinegar, a tablespoon of fish sauce and the rest of of the pineapple juice.
- Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for an hour or until the pork is tender and the sauce has thickened and reduced to about a cup. Taste the sauce occasionally during cooking and add more fish sauce, as needed.
- Scoop out the pork and arrange on a platter or shallow bowl.
- Add the pickle slices and pineapple chunks to the sauce and boil for about a minute.
- Ladle the sauce, with pineapple chunks and pickle slices, over the pork.
- Optionally, garnish the pork stew with balsamic-pineapple sauce with more thinly sliced kaffir lime leaves (scallions will do too) before serving.
