Now that I don't have instant access to my mom's cooking anymore, I found that I'm eating less Filipino food and more American food. Especially in the things that I cook nowadays for my husband. Being Caucasian, he's got a thing about textures and isn't overly fond of most Asian cuisines outside of Panda Express. In an effort to expose him to more Filipino food besides the usual adobo and pancit (and to help me reconnect to my heritage), I thought that I would make him one of my favorite Filipino dishes: my mother's kare kare.
Kare Kare is a traditional Filipino stew usually made with oxtails and veggies in a savory peanut sauce laced with annato and shrimp paste. It's another of my favorite dishes that my mom makes. In her version, she would use the less expensive beef chuck cuts for stew marbled with a little fat. Also, she adds cabbage to hers and usually blanches the vegetables in the beef broth. I remember that whenever my mom made this, I would eat a couple (sometimes three!) platefuls of it with a heaping dollop of spicy bagoong mixed in the rice. Those were some tasty goodness, right there!
While I might rant and rave about how good this dish is, I wasn't so sure if the hubby would have such a similar response. For one thing, it has eggplants...one vegetable that he's not so keen on. Also, another "weird" ingredient that he might be wary of was the peanut butter. I only had crunchy peanut butter so texture and taste was really something that I was worried about. But I went ahead and made it... hoping for the best. And to cut time, I skipped the blanching of the vegetables in the broth and hoped it would still taste the same...
I really shouldn't of worried. When the hubby walked in, the first thing he commented on was how good the house smelled. Yay! Then, after further investigation in the kitchen, he also remarked on how good the stew looked. Double yay! So when he finnaly took the first few bites, his only complaint was that he wished there were more bok choy (which was funny because I had left out the cabbbage for fear that he wouldn't like it). And you know what the best part of all this was? It tasted just like how mommy makes it! Fuck yeah!
So now, whenever I make this in the future, I won't be plagued by worry or doubt because I know that the hubby will eat it...but most importantly, *like* it as well. Huzzah for sharing cultures!!
P.S., you might notice that the directions don't match the pictures. The instructions below are for my mom's "real" kare kare...with cabbage and banana heart. :)
Kare Kare
(Beef Stew with Vegetables in Peanut-Based Sauce)
2.5lbs beef chuck roast, cubed
6 to 8 cups water
1 medium-large banana heart, blossoms separated and heart chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 heaping tbsp annatto powder
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp shrimp paste (bagoong)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup rice water (first wash)
2 to 3 small eggplants, sliced into chunks
1 bundle Chinese long beans, cut into 3-inch length
1/4 of a cabbage
2 to 3 baby bok choy, halved
salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
In a large pot, add beef and enough water to cover the meat by about 1-2 inches. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the meat is tender, about 2 hours. Strain the meat out once tender, and keep the stock. Set aside.
Take prepared banana heart and blossoms and place in a large saucepan. Add enough stock to cover blossoms then boil until tender. Strain, discard stock, then set aside.
On medium-low, heat the oil in another large pot and stir in the annato powder. Let the annato infuse the oil for about 5 minutes then add the garlic and onions. Increase heat to medium and let cook for a couple of minutes until onion is slightly translucent. Stir in the shrimp paste (bagoong) then add the beef. Cook for another few minutes, stirring constantly.
After the meat just starts to brown, add the rice water and let simmer for five minutes. Stir in the peanut butter. If the mixture becomes too thick, add some reserved beef stock 1/4 cup at a time as needed.
Add the eggplant and banana heart and simmer for another 3-5 minutes. Then add the beans and cabbage, simmering for another 5-8 minutes. Check the consistency of the sauce and add stock as required. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Lastly, add bok choy, and remove from heat. Cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes to finish steaming the bok choy. Serve with shrimp paste (bagoong) over hot plain rice.
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