The Chicken Tim Conspiracy

In a culture as rich as ours in the Philippines, the term fusion pertaining to food is synonymous with our local fare. Chinese, Malay and Mediterranean influences constitute most of what we dub as our "Filipino cuisine". 

One such cuisine is the dish Pata Tim. 

Pata tim is a Chinese influenced dish of braised pork leg and sometimes, pork hocks. Its so commonly found around the country that we have embraced and tweaked it to suit our Filipino palates.

With the growing need to reduce all that is unhealthy, I share with you the version that I've just started using at home, our Chicken Tim.

Getting Started:

Marinate chicken overnight ( the marinade below is for about a kilo worth of chicken, preferably the entire leg).

Chicken Marinade:

• 1 tsp 5 spice powder
• 1 tbsp ginger powder, 
• 2 tbsp brown sugar, 
• 1/4  dark soy sauce and 
• 1/8 cup Chinese rice wine. 

Brown in oil (not deep fried), making sure that skin is a bit crisp, even if the insides are not thoroughly cooked. Set aside.

Chicken Tim Sauce:

In a saucepan, bring to boil :

• 2 cups water, 
• 1/8 cup dark soy sauce , 
• 1/4 c brown sugar (you can decrease amount and add sugar gradually til you get the sweetness level you like), 
• 2 tbsp Hoisin sauce, 
• 4 pcs star anise, 
• 2 bay leaves. 

Simmer til you get almost half the volume of liquid. Dissolve 2 tbsp cornstarch in about 1/4 cup of water. Pour onto the sauce, stirring gently. This is to thicken the sauce. Once sauce thickens,remove from fire.

Add pechay and shitake mushrooms to your
heart's content

Preparation:

Ingredients:

• Pechay (1-2 bundles)
• Dried shitake mushrooms (whole or slices), presoaked
• Sesame Oil

In a heatproof casserole dish, arrange raw pechay at the bottom together with presoak shitake mushrooms. Put chicken on top. Pour sauce and steam for about 30 minutes. Do check if chicken is done (no blood inside). When done, drizzle sesame oil and serve.

IF you don't have a steamer: 

boil fried chicken in sauce BEFORE you thicken it with cornstarch. Before thickening the sauce, take out the chicken first. You can parboil the pechay and shitake mushrooms ( I buy slices but whole would look prettier), and arrange as written above. Even the kids loved it :)

 From Kitchen Wanderings, here's to a life full of flavor!