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Kare-kare

oxtail stewed for hours in a dense peanut sauce with banana blossom and vegetables

Lunch Dinner 550–750 kcal Spice ●●●
Kare-kare — oxtail stewed for hours in a dense peanut sauce with banana blossom and vegetables
Photo: GwennVienn · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

A Tagalog stew of Manila's Sunday tables: oxtail simmers for hours and the sauce is thickened with toasted ground rice and peanuts, tinted orange with annatto. Its name may come from the 'kari' (curry) left behind by the Indian sepoys of the 1762 British occupation. The golden rule is sacred: shrimp bagoong is served on the side, because mixing it in kills the peanut sauce.

Ingredients

550–750 kcal per typical serving. Per generous portion with sauce, no rice; with a cup of rice it totals 750-950 kcal. (estimated from the typical recipe)

Where to try it

  • Manila
More history on Wikipedia: Kare-kare

How it is made

  1. Simmer the oxtail for 2-3 hours (or 45 minutes in a pressure cooker) until it falls off the bone.
  2. Saute onion and garlic, add the annatto, broth, ground toasted rice and peanuts; simmer into a velvet sauce.
  3. Add the oxtail to the stew and blanch the vegetables and banana blossom separately.
  4. Fold the vegetables in at the end so they stay crisp, and season lightly with salt.
  5. Serve with the bagoong alamang in a separate bowl, never inside the pot.
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