Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of five stories we will be running about cultural dish recipes. 

Typically, the Filipinos specialize in warm dishes with sauce and meat on top of rice.  Because of the country’s unique location and history, Filipino food has always been a mixture of traditional Spanish dishes, Chinese dishes, and dishes from surrounding countries. What makes Kare kare, a Filipino beef stew, so special to the Filipino culture is that it became the nation’s comfort food before the Spanish dictators came to the Philippines and before other nations migrated to the islands.

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Kare Kare (Beef Peanut Stew)

Ingredients

• half an onion
• two cloves of garlic
• one big egg plant
• ten to fifteen string beans
• three small bok choys
• two pounds of ox tail
• half a cup of rice
• half a cup of peanuts
• half a cup of anato seeds
• half a cup of peanut butter
• enough water to boil two pounds of ox tail.

Process

• Boil the two pounds of ox tail for at least three hours, or put in a pressure cooker for 15 to 20 minutes
• Chop the half onion, cloves of garlic, egg plant, string beans, and bok choy
• Grind half a cup of toasted peanuts
• Toast half a cup of rice on a pan for five minutes
• Saute the onions, cloves of garlic, egg plant, and string beans
• Take half a cup of the beef stock and use it to dissolve the toasted ground rice, half the cup of anato seeds, and toasted peanuts
• Put the seed, rice and peanut mixture into the stock
• Add half a cup of peanut butter in the boiling water
• Once the beef is tender enough, add the vegetable mix to the stew
• Stir and hear until the soup thickens
• Add salt to taste

The dish is best served with rice and shrimp paste.