Kare-Kare (Oxtail and Vegetables in Peanut Sauce)
Photo: GwennVienn, CC BY-SA 4.0
Kare-kare is a Filipino stew of oxtail and vegetables in a thick peanut sauce, served with salty shrimp paste. The sauce gets its body from ground peanuts and toasted ground rice, and its orange color from annatto seeds soaked in water. Banana blossom, eggplant and string beans are parboiled separately so they stay distinct. The plain rice and bagoong on the side are part of the dish, balancing the mild, rich sauce.
Instructions
Put the oxtail in a large pot with the 6 cups of water and boil until the meat is tender. Keep the cooking liquid, since it becomes the base of the sauce.
Soak the annatto seeds in ½ cup of water and set them aside. Rub the seeds between your fingers if needed to release their color into the water.
Cut the string beans into 3-inch lengths. Cut the eggplants and the banana blossom diagonally into pieces about ½ inch thick.
Parboil the string beans, eggplants and banana blossom, then set them aside.
Heat the cooking oil and sauté the garlic and onion in it. Take the seeds out of the annatto water, then add the colored water to the pan and boil it for 5 minutes.
Stir in the ground peanuts and the toasted ground rice. Bring the sauce to a boil, then add the oxtail and the parboiled vegetables.
Add more water if the sauce is too thin to coat the meat, since it should be thick and not watery. Season with fish sauce to taste.
Serve with steamed rice and a side of shrimp paste (bagoong).
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