Oxtail Kare-Kare Recipe (Filipino Oxtail Peanut Stew) » Indonesia Eats

HomeEasy RecipesOxtail Kare-Kare Recipe (Filipino Oxtail Peanut Stew)January 15, 2012324ShareFacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsAppLinkedinReddItEmailPrintTelegramMixLINE

Hi, my name is Ray Gingco of Wok with Ray It was such a great way to start the New Year getting an email from Pepy of Indonesia Eats asking me if I could guest post on her blog. When I saw the email, my jaw just dropped! It was Pepy — one of few talented food photographers that I admire! So, how can I say no, huh? To me, it’s an honor not only being invited by her but also being invited by a fellow Southeast Asian. She is Indonesian and I’m Filipino—where not only our cultures mirror each other, but our culinary arts have similarities as well. So thank you, Pepy, for your kindness and accommodation.

The dish that we are cooking today is a very popular Filipino dish that we call Kare-Kare. There are many stories behind this dish and it all depends on who you are going to ask. One would claim that it originated from Pampanga, where many consider it to be the culinary capital of the Philippines. Another would claim that it was introduced by Indian immigrants because of the word Kare (curry). And of course the story that this dish was once only served to the Moro Elites who settled in Manila before the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. Once in a while it is nice to know the colorful, or sometimes even romantic, story of the dish we are serving our loved ones.

When I cook Kare Kare, I like using Ox tail (buntot ng baka) because it creates this very flavorful broth and combine it with the wonderful aroma of roasted peanuts (mani) and fresh vegetables like long beans (sitaw), eggplants (talong), baby bok choy (pechay), and annatto seeds (achiote). This dish can be prepared the old fashioned way which is the roasting and grinding of peanuts, and mashing of glutinous rice. I don’t know about you but for home cooks like me, I always go for the easier way if it will give me the same result; after all, we want to spend more time eating than cooking, don’t we? So we are going to use Kare Kare mix that is readily available in most Asian markets. Don’t use the one that has peanuts in it because we will add our own peanut butter.

Kare kare is often eaten with steamed rice with sautéed shrimp paste (bagoong) as a side dish or as a condiment. The saltiness of the shrimp paste enhances or counters if you will, the rich combination of flavors coming from ox tail and peanuts. My brother-in-law (my sister’s husband) who is a Mexican-American loves Kare Kare but he wouldn’t eat it with sautéed shrimp paste. Instead, he will eat it with either Sriracha or sambal oelek, Hahaha! Sautéed shrimp paste is very easy to prepare just make sure to open all your windows or turn that stove vent to full blast to suck out the shrimp smell aroma. ☺

So, here is the recipe for Kare Kare and I hope you enjoy this dish as my Mexican brother-in-law always says “Kain na Tayo!”—which means “Let’s Eat” in Tagalog. Thank you everyone and again, thank you Pepy for having me today!

Oxtail Kare-Kare
Filipino Meat Peanut Stew

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INGREDIENTS:
For the Kare-kare
3 lbs Ox Tail – butcher chopped about 2 inches thick and most of the fats trimmed.
1/2 lb Chinese long beans – cut about 2 inches long
2 small Chinese eggplants – sliced to 1 inch thick
1/2 lb baby bok choy – washed and the bottom edge removed
1 package Kare-Kare stew mix – don’t use the one with peanuts.
3/4 cups unsweetened creamy peanut butter
2 quarts water (1.9 liters)
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoon annatto seeds in 1/4 cup water – for extra coloring and nutty flavor

For the Shrimp Paste Condiment
12 oz bottle Shrimp Paste (Bagoong Alamang)
1 small tomato – diced
1 small onion – diced
5 cloves garlic – minced
4 tablespoon palm vinegar
4 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoon vegetable oil

METHODS:
Shrimp Paste Condiment:
Place medium a pan over high heat. Add vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add onion and garlic. Sauté until onion is translucent. Add tomatoes then sauté for about 4 minutes or until tomatoes are almost mashed. Add shrimp paste, vinegar, and sugar.

Turn the heat to medium. Keep stirring until shrimp turns dark red (about 8 minutes). Place cooked shrimp paste in a small bowl as side dish or condiment.
Note: you may refrigerate the leftover sautéed shrimp paste for future use.

Oxtail Kare-Kare
Combine 1/4 cup water and annatto seeds in a bowl and set aside for about 30 minutes.
When the water turns red, strain over another bowl, add and mix with cornstarch then set aside. Discard the strained annatto seeds.

Add water and ox tail in a large pot. Place pot over high heat. When the water is boiling, skim and discard all the floating scum. Turn the heat down to medium, cover and let it boil until ox tail is tender. Once the oxtail is tender, stir in the peanut butter and mix thoroughly.

Ladle 2 cups of broth in a bowl. Add Kare-Kare mix in the bowl with the broth and mix thoroughly with a whisk.

Add the broth back in to the pot. Add the annatto water mix in to the pot. Still gently until mix and broth are fully combined. Add eggplant and Chinese long beans and let it simmer for about 4 minutes.
Add salt and baby bok choy and let it simmer for another 2 minutes.

Serve hot with rice and sautéed shrimp paste on the side.

FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsAppLinkedinReddItEmailPrintTelegramMixLINEPrevious articleBánh Xèo Recipe (Vietnamese Savoury Crepes)Next articleHappy Chinese New Year of DragonIndonesia Eatshttps://indonesiaeats.comAn Indonesian-born who lived in Winnipeg Edmonton, Canada for more than a decade prior to move to Edmonton in 2017. Indonesia Eats is a memoir of her homeland.

  1. Ox Tail Kare Kare (Kare Kareng Buntot) | wokwithray.net- Filipino & Asian Home Style Cooking January 15, 2012 At 8:51 PM[…] it at one of the food blogs that I admire—Indonesia Eats. Pepy the founder and editor of Indonesia Eats invited me to guest post on her blog and I feel very honored. So please join me and let’s Wok […]Reply
  2. Debs @ The Spanish Wok January 16, 2012 At 12:04 AMWow, what a beautiful looking dish. Any left for me?Reply
  3. Bam's Kitchen January 16, 2012 At 3:51 AMAmazing flavors! I can’t wait to try this soup, even if there is not a baptism or wedding to attend. I am a happy new follower. If you happen to get a minute please feel free to stop by my cooking website at http://bamskitchen.com/ Take Care, BAMReply
  4. The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time January 16, 2012 At 7:25 AMHi, it’s good to meet you Pepy. Ray drew me to your site and I’m so glad he did. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find many of the ingredients in my little rural area (I’m pretty confident they’ll have creamy peanut butter), but I’m going to give this a try. It looks amazing. I need to have a look around now. I love Ray’s Filipino cooking. Time to check out some wonderful Indonesian dishes!Reply
  5. PolaM January 16, 2012 At 11:32 AMI have to try this oxtail stew. I love using this kind of cuts and this recipe sounds very interesting!Reply
  6. Tina (PinayInTexas) January 16, 2012 At 1:48 PMI’m a big fan of Ray, and I’m glad to see his stunning oxtail kare-kare here!Reply
  7. wok with ray January 16, 2012 At 6:58 PMThank you very much Pepy for the opportunity to guest post on your beautiful blog. It is such a honor and pleasure to have worked with you. More success to you!~ ray ~Reply
  8. BusyWorkingMama January 16, 2012 At 7:39 PMThis looks wonderful – I am going to see with my butcher about ox tail. I think it would be an impressive dish for a dinner party.Reply
  9. Piet January 16, 2012 At 9:27 PMThanks Ray and thank you Pepy for inviting Ray to guest post. We LOVE oxtail soup, the traditional Italian style but this one really takes the cake. Problem is though that I have no clue where to find the kare kare here in Florida. I’ll have to try mail order or the Thai store in town, or make my own. I also have to make an alternate for the shrimp paste condiment and use a mix of Thai fish sauce and fish powder, it’s the adat thing.Cheers to all.Reply
  10. Kankana January 17, 2012 At 12:04 AMFantastic guest post! I am not sure if I can enjoy oxtail but would love to try it with some meat of my choice. Gorgeous click Ray as always.Reply
  11. Nami | Just One Cookbook January 17, 2012 At 5:41 PMSuper excited to see Ray on your blog Pepy! Both of you have excellent recipes all the time and great photos! I’m going to search Filipino curry mix and make this. Oxtails give such a great depth in the soup. I already start drooling thinking about it. Thanks Ray and Pepy!Reply
  12. Ann January 17, 2012 At 8:35 PMWow – this is stunning! I’ve never had Oxtail, but a friend of mine swears I’d love it. This dish – and the pictures – are stunning! Thanks and it’s SO nice of you to bring a special dish to THIS party!Reply
  13. Namitha January 20, 2012 At 6:40 PMThanks for introducing a great blogger to us Pepy 🙂 Ray,it’s a beautiful post with stunning pictures !Reply
  14. Sharon | Chinese Soup Pot January 21, 2012 At 1:57 AMRay, you did such a fantastic job with the photos in this post! I absolutely admire every single one of your photos here!! They are magnificent! This oxtail stew looks amazing too! I can already imagine the beautiful flavors that this stew has. Thanks for sharing this special Filipino party dish! And Pepy, very nice to meet you here. I’m a fan of Ray’s food blog and I am glad I followed him here to find you. I love your photography as well!!Reply
  15. foodipino.com » Oxtail Kare Kare (Oxtail Peanut Stew) January 23, 2012 At 2:39 PM[…] of this dish can be found at wokwithray.net. This recipe was also featured when I guest posted at Indonesia Eats. Please do stop by when you get a moment. Thank you very much everyone and I wish you all and […]Reply
  16. Kiri W. January 25, 2012 At 8:10 AMThis looks beautiful! Your images are stunning!I’ve never had oxtail kare-kare, but I’ve seen it prepared on TV and have been lusting after it ever since. I’d love to try this out! Great guest post 🙂Reply
  17. mjskit January 26, 2012 At 7:05 PMWell this isn’t anything like the oxtail stew my mama use to make! 🙂 I think I would actually love this one! With all of the different, interesting flavors, it’s hard to imagine what this would taste like; but I guess when you take a bunch a great flavors and put them all in a pot, it makes everything even better! Love the recipe and of course, the pictures take my breath away!Reply
  18. jean (lemons and anchovies) January 27, 2012 At 12:15 PMI have been craving kare kare for weeks. *sigh* These images look so good that I may just have to make the drive to either a filipino restaurant or the market for ox tail so I can make my own. Can’t stop looking at the pictures…Reply
  19. Hungry Native February 2, 2012 At 4:49 PMWe made a version of this recently. It was very good, quite surprising how well the peanut flavor goes with the oxtail!Reply
  20. Mie Goreng (Indonesian Fried Noodle) | wokwithray.net- Filipino & Asian Home Style Cooking March 7, 2012 At 5:02 PM[…] kasih, Ray! Thank you, Ray! Ray was one of my Filipino guest posts. With his easy and beautiful oxtail kare-kare recipe, he made Indonesia Eats readers and I drooled. :=) When he emailed me and asked for a noodle […]Reply
  21. Mie Goreng (Indonesian Fried Noodle) | Indonesia Eats March 7, 2012 At 7:02 PM[…] may remember Ray with his yummy oxtail kare-kare on January. If you miss this post, you better check out his […]Reply
  22. liz May 30, 2012 At 1:52 AMhi.. James Oseland whose now the editor of Saveur Magazine came out with a cookery book ” Cradle of flavours on mainly Indonesian cuisine & in it includes the original recipe for Kare Kambing (surprised the hell out of me as my family used goat) & this recipe doesn’t use peanuts..also this book includes the recipe of what later became chicken adobo for Filipinos(no soy sauce & it’s fried instead of braise but all other ingredients are the same)so Yers.. there’s no doubt, that Indonesia influenced Filipino cuisine a lot.Reply
  23. Oxtail Ragu - Pantry No. 7 March 19, 2014 At 1:58 PM[…] spiced Jamaican stew. I also found an interesting peanut based Filipino oxtail stew called Kare-Kare. Ours is based on the Italian version, Coda alla Vaccinara, braised with San Marzano tomatoes and […]Reply
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