Kare-Kare

Name: Kare-Kare
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Filipino
Ingredients: Meat and vegetables:; 1kg oxtail, cut into 5cm pieces; 500g beef tripe, cleaned and cut into 3cm pieces (optional but traditional); 200g banana blossom (puso ng saging), fresh or canned, cut into wedges; 2 small Asian eggplants, cut into thick rounds; 200g string beans (sitaw), cut into 5cm pieces; 1 bunch bok choy (pechay), separated into leaves; Peanut sauce base:; 250g roasted unsalted peanuts (or 150g natural peanut butter); 3 tbsp toasted rice powder (dry-toast rice in a pan until golden, then grind); 2 tsp annatto (atsuete) seeds — steeped in 100ml warm water for 15 minutes to extract colour; 1 large onion, roughly chopped; 8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped; 2 tbsp fish sauce (patis); Salt and black pepper to taste; 1.5 litres water or beef stock; Essential accompaniment:; 4 tbsp bagoong alamang (fermented shrimp paste) — sautéed with 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp vinegar until fragrant

The great Filipino celebratory stew — oxtail, tripe, and vegetables slow-cooked in a thick, deeply golden peanut and annatto sauce until the collagen dissolves and the broth becomes almost cloyingly rich. Served always with bagoong alamang (fermented shrimp paste) stirred in at the table, a salty, pungent counterpoint that makes the whole dish make sense.

⏱30 min prep 🔥150 min cook ⏰180 min total 🍽6 servings 📊medium

The Cultural Story

Kare-Kare is one of those dishes that could only belong to the Philippines: a technique (the thickened peanut sauce) with probable Malay origins, a pairing with fermented shrimp paste that reflects the archipelago's deep umami traditions, and a name that linguists and food historians have debated for centuries without resolution. The most compelling etymology links kare-kare to the South Indian word "kari" — the same root that gives us "curry" — carried to the Philippines via the Malay peninsula during the long centuries of maritime trade that connected the archipelago to India, Arabia, and southern China before Spanish colonization began in the 1560s. The Philippine version, however, diverged dramatically from its possible Indian ancestor. Where Indian curries use coconut milk and complex spice blends, kare-kare uses ground roasted peanuts and toasted rice powder as thickeners, and annatto seeds (atsuete) for their deep orange-yellow color. The result is a sauce closer in spirit to a West African groundnut stew than to any Indian curry — thick, rich, nutty, slightly sweet from the peanuts, and entirely its own thing. The choice of protein tells you where in Filipino social life kare-kare sits. Oxtail — the bony, collagen-rich tail of the cow — is a cut that requires hours of braising to become tender. It is not a weeknight dish. It is a Sunday dish, a birthday dish, a fiesta dish. The collagen that dissolves from the bones and connective tissue transforms the sauce as it cooks, adding a gelatinous, lip-coating quality that sits alongside the peanut thickener and creates something extraordinary. Tripe and beef shanks are added in many versions for additional texture and richness. Banana blossom, eggplant, string beans, and bok choy are the traditional vegetables, added in the final minutes to retain some bite against the yielding meat. And then there is the bagoong. Without fermented shrimp paste stirred in at the table, kare-kare is merely a very good peanut stew. With it, the dish becomes something else entirely: the salt, funk, and fermented depth of the bagoong cuts through the richness of the peanut sauce like vinegar cuts through fat, and the flavor integration happens in the diner's bowl rather than in the pot. This is cooking as interactive experience — the cook builds the base, the diner finishes the dish. Kare-Kare is claimed most fiercely by Pampanga, the same central Luzon province that gave the world sisig. Kapampangan cooks, renowned throughout the Philippines for their technique and their investment in food as cultural expression, make versions of kare-kare so complex and carefully calibrated that families pass down recipes as heirlooms. The dish appears at every important gathering: baptisms, fiestas, weddings, and the table of any Filipino family proud of its kitchen.

Ingredients

Meat and vegetables:
1kg oxtail, cut into 5cm pieces
500g beef tripe, cleaned and cut into 3cm pieces (optional but traditional)
200g banana blossom (puso ng saging), fresh or canned, cut into wedges
2 small Asian eggplants, cut into thick rounds
200g string beans (sitaw), cut into 5cm pieces
1 bunch bok choy (pechay), separated into leaves
Peanut sauce base:
250g roasted unsalted peanuts (or 150g natural peanut butter)
3 tbsp toasted rice powder (dry-toast rice in a pan until golden, then grind)
2 tsp annatto (atsuete) seeds — steeped in 100ml warm water for 15 minutes to extract colour
1 large onion, roughly chopped
8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 tbsp fish sauce (patis)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1.5 litres water or beef stock
Essential accompaniment:
4 tbsp bagoong alamang (fermented shrimp paste) — sautéed with 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp vinegar until fragrant

Instructions

1Blanch the oxtail and tripe: Place oxtail pieces and tripe in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes — this removes impurities and produces a cleaner final broth. Drain, rinse under cold water, and scrub clean with a brush.
2Braise the meat: Return the blanched oxtail and tripe to the pot with 1.5 litres of fresh water or stock. Add the roughly chopped onion, garlic, and 2 tbsp fish sauce. Bring to a boil, skim any foam, then reduce to the gentlest possible simmer. Cover and cook for 2–2.5 hours until the oxtail meat is very tender and nearly falling from the bone. The collagen should have dissolved into the broth, making it slightly glossy. Alternatively, use a pressure cooker: 45–50 minutes on high pressure achieves the same result.
3Make the peanut sauce: While the meat braises, if using whole peanuts, blend them in a food processor with 200ml of the warm braising liquid until completely smooth — a few minutes minimum. You want a fine paste, not a chunky one. If using peanut butter, mix it directly with some warm braising liquid to thin. Strain the annatto-steeping water through a fine sieve; discard the seeds and reserve the deeply orange-red liquid.
4Build the kare-kare sauce: When the meat is tender, remove the oxtail and tripe pieces and set aside. Strain the braising liquid and return it to the pot. Over medium heat, whisk in the peanut paste and the annatto water. The sauce will immediately turn a rich, golden-orange. Add the toasted rice powder (ground fine — this is the traditional thickener, use a dry blender or spice grinder). Stir well and simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens. Taste and season with fish sauce, salt, and pepper. The sauce should be thick, rich, and slightly sweet from the peanut.
5Return the meat and cook the vegetables in stages: Add the oxtail and tripe back to the sauce. Bring to a simmer. Add the banana blossom and eggplant — cook for 8 minutes. Add the string beans — cook for 5 more minutes. Add the bok choy last — cook for 2 minutes until just wilted. The vegetables should retain some texture, not become mushy.
6Make the sautéed bagoong: In a small pan over medium heat, cook 1 minced garlic clove in a little oil until fragrant. Add the bagoong, sugar, and vinegar. Stir and cook for 3–4 minutes until the paste darkens slightly and becomes fragrant. The sharpness will mellow. Transfer to a small dish for the table.
7Serve: Ladle the kare-kare into bowls or a large serving dish — the sauce should be thick enough to hold its shape briefly before settling. Serve with steamed white rice and the sautéed bagoong in a separate dish on the side. Each person adds bagoong to taste, stirring it into their bowl at the table. The combination of rich peanut sauce, soft collagen-rich oxtail, and pungent fermented shrimp paste is the experience.

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