Kare-kare

Oxtail in peanut sauce thickened with toasted ground rice, with the bagoong served separately.

Beef, Shellfish. Not vegetarian — contains bagoong, a fermented fish or shrimp paste, beef, shellfish.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg oxtail, in sections
• 500 g beef tripe, cleaned
• 200 g peanut butter, unsweetened
• 60 g raw rice, for toasting
• 1 banana blossom, sliced, optional
• 200 g water spinach
• 150 g long beans, in lengths
• 2 aubergines, in thick slices
• 1 onion and 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons annatto seeds
• 3 litres water
• 2 tablespoons oil
• bagoong alamang, to serve

Method

1. Boil the oxtail and tripe for 3 hours, skimming often, until both give completely. Keep the broth.
2. TOAST THE RAW RICE IN A DRY PAN until it is deep brown and smells of popcorn, then grind it to a powder. This is the thickener and the flavour nobody expects — peanut butter alone gives a sauce that is merely nutty and slightly sweet.
3. Steep the annatto seeds in a little hot broth and strain the orange liquid in, discarding the seeds.
4. Soften the onion and garlic in the oil, add 1.5 litres of the broth, the peanut butter and the toasted rice powder, and whisk smooth.
5. Return the meat and simmer 20 minutes until the sauce coats a spoon.
6. Add the vegetables by toughness: aubergine and long beans 6 minutes, banana blossom 4, water spinach 1.
7. SERVE THE BAGOONG ON THE SIDE, NOT IN THE POT. Each person stirs in as much fermented shrimp paste as they want, and the sauce is deliberately under-seasoned so they can. Cooked in, it would overwhelm the peanut.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes