HOW TO COOK KARE-KARE?

Picture courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kare-kare.jpg

Kare-kare is a Philippine stew. It is made from peanut sauce with a variety of vegetables, stewed oxtail, beef, and occasionally offal or tripe. Meat variants may include goat meat or (rarely) chicken. It is often eaten with bagoong (shrimp paste), sometimes spiced with chili, and sprinkled with calamansi lime juice. Traditionally, any Filipino fiesta (particularly in the Tagalog region) is not complete without kare-kare. In some Filipino-American versions of the dish, oxtail is exclusively used as the meat.

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo beef (round or sirloin cut) cut into cubes (for a more traditional kare kare, use cleaned beef tripe instead of beef)

1/2 kilo oxtail, cut 2 inch long

3 cups of peanut butter

1/4 cup grounded toasted rice

1/2 cup cooked bagoong alamang (anchovies)

2 pieces onions, diced

2 heads of garlic, minced

4 tablespoons atsuete oil

4 pieces eggplant, sliced 1 inch thick

1 bundle Pechay (Bok choy) cut into 2 pieces

1 bundle of sitaw (string beans) cut to 2" long

1 banana bud, cut similar to eggplant slices, blanch in boiling water

1/2 cup oil

8 cups of water

Salt to taste

PROCEDURE:

In a stock pot, boil beef and oxtails in water for an hour or until cooked. Strain and keep the stock.

In a big pan or wok, heat oil and atsuete oil.

Sauté garlic, onions until golden brown, then add the stock, toasted rice, beef, oxtail and peanut butter. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Salt to taste.

Add the eggplant, string beans, pechay and banana bud. Cook the vegetables for a few minutes - Do not overcook the vegetables.

Serve with bagoong on the side and hot plain rice.