You don’t need to be Filipino to make great tasting Kare-Kare.
If you had it done right, there is nothing like it. Sub par kare-kare will put it on your, “I don’t care if I ever see that again list”.
My goal is to make you crave it.
To do this, I’m going to break the rules. I’m not going to Americanize the dish, but I am going to use French technique, and I’ll point out where. To be clear this is not an Asian Fusion thing either, just a few techniques to maximize flavor.
There are a great many dishes that I think can benefit from a few changes in approach, without changing ingredients.
Kare-Kare is an oxtail stew accented with peanut butter. The first time I ever made it, I did it the traditional way, with no prepared mix. After having done so both ways, I can say with confidence that the prepared mixes make life easier and the flavor is essentially the same. But, when white guy makes kare-kare from scratch and toasts his own rice, Filipinos perk up and listen, some even exhibit shame.
The first time I ever made kare-kare, I toasted the rice to the proper color and ground it to a powder. I soaked annatto seeds in water to make the annatto water. It is worth doing so you can make your own comparison. I’ll include the recipe.
I must also point out that sometimes kare-kare can be considered a bagoong delivery system much like french-fries are a ketchup delivery system. While on that subject, many Filipino dishes include organ meats or tripe. You can include or exclude depending on your tastes. I have met many Filipinos that were born in the Philippines that don’t like offal or tripe, so it is not an Americanization so much as a “make it easy for a first timer to enjoy” practice. If you make the intro enjoyable, you might enlist more explorers.
Ingredients:
· 4 pounds of oxtail (I prefer medium size segments so there are more for everyone)
· 1 package Mamasita’s kare-kare peanut sauce (powder)
· 1 package Mamasita’s kare-kare stew sauce (powder)
o Alternatively toast ½ cup of rice in a pan until it is golden and then grind it is a food processor
o Soak 1 tablespoon of annatto seeds in ¼ cup of water for an hour then discard the seeds rendering annatto water
· 10 cups water
· 2 medium Japanese style eggplants cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
· About 10 longbeans cut into 1 ½ inch pieces and washed
· 1 cup of diced butternut squash – about 1 inch cube (roughly)
· 3 baby bok choy
· 1 medium yellow onion diced for sauté
· 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
· 1 ¾ cups of peanut butter
· Salt and pepper to taste
Process:
1) Simmer the oxtails in 10 cups of water until they are tender, about 2 hours
2) Let cool completely and refrigerate so that the fat floats to the top and hardens
3) Remove the fat
4) While this is happening, if you are going the traditional route, toss the ½ cup of rice in a dry pan and keep the rice moving over medium to low heat to toast it evenly. Keep tossing it so it does not burn until it reaches the desired golden brown color. Let the rice cool and then grind it to a powder in a food processor
5) Also if following the traditional method, place the annatto seeds in water and let them sit. After an hour strain out the seeds and reserve the water.
6) Preheat oven to 400 degrees
7) Place the eggplant in a saucepan with a table spoon of olive oil and into the oven
8) Place the butternut squash in a separate sauce pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and into the oven
9) Place the washed bok choy into another sauce pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and gently sauté on top of the stove until it wilts and liquid is released. Raise the heat to boil off the liquid then remove from the heat.
Keep an eye on the squash and eggplant. You don’t’ want either too soft, but you want to remove the liquid form the eggplant and soften and color the squash.
After the oxtails are tender start phase 2:
1) Sauté the onions in a small amount of oil until translucent - medium / low heat. Season the onions with a little salt and pepper.
2) Add the garlic when the onions are translucent (about 3 – 5 minutes)
3) When the garlic and onion are lightly browning, add the peanut butter and stir it up. the peanut butter will melt but then become sticky.
4) Add one cup at a time – a cup of the beef cooking liquid
5) Stir it up and then add a second cup
6) Add the MamaSita’s Kare-Kare mix or the rice and annatto water
7) Keep stirring as the mixture will start to stick to the bottom of the pot
8) Add two more cups of liquid, one cup at a time
9) TASTE for seasoning and add a small amount of salt and pepper
10) You might want to add more peanut butter – if so go for it.
11) Add four more cups of the beef cooking liquid and stir it up
12) TASTE again for seasoning – adjust as necessary
13) Add the ox tail
14) Add the long beans
15) Keep stirring – prevent sticking
16) After about 5 minutes add the roasted vegetables (squash, eggplant, bok choy)
17) Cook another 10 minutes and your’re done
You’ll notice that in in the video I used less, because it is just Lea and me at home.
Same process, but cut the ingredients in half. I only used 4 cups of water with 2 LBS of ox tail. I also put the ox tail in the fridge over night to make it easier to remove the layer of fat from the top of the broth. The broth is very collagen rich.
Also I omitted the Stew mix and used about 8 oz of peanut butter, and I did not roast the eggplant and squash. Roasting the vegetables ahead of time concentrates their flavor, but it is not necessary.
Obviously you need to cook the eggplant and squash a bit longer in the stew if you don’t pre-roast.
BTW - all of the instructions are on the back of the package.
Kiss yourself for making deliciousness.
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