My Lola's Kare-Kare

After the hussel and bussle of the busy work in the Metro , I always find myself going home in my Grandma’s Residence in San Jose Del Monte Bulacan just to savor the taste of the mouth watering specialty of my grandma’s famous KARE-KARE .

Kare-kare is a traditional Filipino ox tail stew in a peanut-based sauce. Because the recipe varies from family to family and person to person, what follows is a version of how this dish is made in my family. I like my kare-kare with tripe and rich peanut sauce. The thing is kare-kare sauce is best eaten with lots rice and bagoong alamang. And it’s not very healthy for me to eat much rice in one meal. But theres a work around for the bagoong there had been vegie made bagoong made of mushrooms that can be purchased to some specialty stores.

Ingredients:

1 lb beef tripe2 lbs oxtail, cut 2 inch long

2 cups of peanut butter

1 1/3 sachet kare kare mix

1/2 cup cooked bagoong alamang (anchovies)

1 onion, diced

1 heads of garlic, diced

2 pieces eggplant, sliced 1 inch thick

1 bundle Pechay (Bok choy) cut into 2 pieces

1 bundle of sitaw (string beans) cut to 2″ long

8 cups of waterSalt to taste

How to cook:

In a stock pot, boil beef tripe and oxtail in water until cooked. Strain and keep the stock. In a big pan or wok, heat oil. Sauté garlic and onion until golden brown, then add the stock, oxtail, kare kare mix and peanut butter. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Salt to taste. Add the eggplant, string beans and pechay. Cook the vegetables for a few minutes. Do not overcook the vegetables. Serve with bagoong on the side and hot plain rice.

But that would be most basic procedure how to cook the kare-kare what made it distinct was that you should have to add galapong ( Glutinous rice ) to thicken the sauce .

Well I just miss my Grandma’s Kare-Kare . It has been a tradition to pass on the Secrets of the family Specialty . It’s really a different taste and that certain distinctness in my lola’s recipe . I guess aside from the the orgasmic taste of the dish what I do miss most was me and my luncle going to the market of Tunkgong Mangga. It’s really nice reminisce the old times. And craving to cook the family dish again just as the way my lola used to cook it in her old clay pot.