Nostalgic Cooking: Kare Kare

Last Sunday I was STILL nostalgic for my mom's cooking, and so I tried to make her kare kare, a savory peanut stew usually made with oxtails and tripe. I found the packet for ready-made Kare-Kare in my cupboard, 

bought oxtails at the Asian supermarket and bought chuck beef at the regular supermarket,

long beans, bok choi, Indian eggplants at the Asian supermarket, and even more bok choi at my favorite produce market. 

Boiling the beef and skimming off the fat reminded me so much of my dad cooking sinigang. I wanted to cook that sour and savory soup instead, but no I had to finish this kare kare mission and didn't have tamarind anyway.

The instructions on the packet said to chop up 3 cloves of garlic and a large onion and then to cook it in a 1/4 cup oil, and so I did but sauteed it in some of the skimmed beef fat.

And continued to boil the beef and its bones. 

When the meat was pretty tender after a couple hours, I parcooked the vegetables in the boiling stock. First, the eggplant, which I then removed and set aside.

I then proceeded to cook the rest of the vegetables the same way for them to retain their slight crunch and vibrant color. I then mixed the spice packet with a cup of water and a quarter cup of peanut butter and added it to the boiling pot of meat along with more and more fish sauce (because I didn't have bagoong or shrimp paste). I have two Filipina neighbors with whom I shared this repast along with a Jewish elderly neighbor, and all 3 said they loved it in their own way--masarap or so delicious.

In the meantime, I made a coconut pineapple cooler to sip with my tropical dinner. The kare kare was good I guess to everyone else, but I thought it flavorless. It really needed that stinky purple-pink shrimp paste to taste like my mom's. Next up, monggo for which i really should have that bagoong and make a trek to Seafood City in South San Francisco.