How Do You Carry Kare-Kare?

Just I have thought that curry dishes (Indian food) is similar to the well-known Kapampangan dish "Kare-Kare". The looks maybe similar but the preparation is very different. So what is kare-kare anyway?

Kare-Kare is considered a stew dish which need the meat to boil for long hours in order to become tender. The typical meat that is use are the oxtail, offal/tripe and ox leg. This food is compose of peanut sauce with a variety of vegetables that are included after the meat have undergone the tenderization. It is common to serve with bagoong (shrimp paste) when eating

According to some food historians this dish has originated from the province of Pampanga, the culinary center of Philippines. But others said that it was that Moro's who has this because in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi this dish is popular to them, they even speculated that this food is being serve long before the arrival of Spaniards in Manila to the elite member just like the datus and rajahs.

Because of complication in preparing it, a typical Filipino can't afford to have this in their everyday's menu. In Pampanga where it originates, during fiesta this are common in every table. You can find this dish also among fine dining Filipino restaurant with a mild twist depending on the chef. Also Kare-kare can be bought in karinderia (side street pre-cook restaurant), but don't demand the authentic one because there might be an absence of one or two ingredients.

Kare kare a la  Bistro Burgos 

INGREDIENTS:

Meat(beef):

• Ox tail
• Ox leg(optional but better if you have it)
• Ox tripe/offal

Vegetables:

• 2 pcs of eggplant - sliced it in slant
• 1 banana bud/heart/flower - sliced in diagonal
• 5 pieces of pechay
• 1 bundle of string beans

Other Ingredients :

• 2 cups of peanut butter
• 5 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
• 1 big onion - sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil

How to cook:

1. Wash the ox tail, legs and beef. Cut into serving pieces. Place in a heavy saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, remove the scums as it rises, cover, add more water if you need to. Kare kare is better if the meat is tender. Let simmer until the meat is tender this will take about 1-2 hours.
2. Transfer the meat into a plate or a bowl and let it cool, set aside the stock. (While others cooked the meat one day ahead, put it into the fridge to solidify the fat and remove it when cooking.)
3. In a large caserrole put the cooking oil to saute the garlic and onion in about 30 seconds.
4. Put the meat in the skillet and continue mixing.
5. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil for another 10 minutes.
6. Add the vegetables.
7. In a small bowl, stir the peanut butter with about 1/2 cup of stock and pour it in the caserrole. Stir to blend well. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until the sauce is thick.
8. Serve hot with bagoong alamang and boil rice.

Photos from pehpot.com and faithraagas.blogspot.com

Read more »

Pin It now!

Halo-halo, The Seasonal Flavor of Summer

Because Philippines is known as a tropical country, the weather during the summer months are extremely hot. Every Filipino have its own way to beat the heat. Some are spending their vacation in the beach to refresh their body from the humid of summer, others may find the cheapest way to cool down the temperature and that's to eat the seasonal flavor of summer, halo-halo.

Halo-halo (from Tagalog word halò, "mix") is a popular Filipino dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans and fruits, and served in a tall glass or bowl.

Ingredients include boiled kidney beans, garbanzos, sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport (macapuno), and plantains caramelized in sugar, jackfruit (langkâ), gulaman, tapioca or Tae, nata de coco, sweet potato (kamote), pounded crushed young rice (pinipig). In terms of arrangement, most of the ingredients (fruits, beans, and other sweets) are first placed inside the tall glass, followed by the shaved ice. This is then sprinkled with sugar, and topped with either (or a combination of) leche flan, purple yam (ubeng pula), or ice cream. Evaporated milk is poured into the mixture upon serving. (from wikipedia)

During summer, every corner of the street in the Philippines is fill with halo-halo vendors. They grab the opportunity to get extra income for their family. You can buy as low as seven (7) pesos to a higher price of thirty (30) pesos for a special one. Prices may also differ when you buy inside the malls and restaurants.

The preparation of Halo-halo ingredients maybe the hardest among Filipino delicacy. Every ingredients should be cook separately. Halo-halo is a representation of how the Philippines is bountiful with regards to tropical fruits.

Today, every ingredients of halo-halo can be find in the supermarkets. It shorten the long way of preparing it. When you have those, just mix all the components and you may have now the world's elusive dessert.






Photo from Flickr.com

Read more »

Pin It now!

The Magic of Adobo

Philippines maybe known for one food trademark in terms of cuisine. And that's Adodo. Foreigners can recall our country with this food. Ask them if what's their favorite Filipino food and they will say Adobo.

As it was expected, Adobo was first introduced by the Spaniards in the 16th century during the colonization era. For the Spanish, Adobo is a process of preserving food. A marination of meat which involves seasoning ingredients and other spices.

Although it has a name taken from the Spanish, the cooking method is indigenous to the Philippines. When the Spanish conquered the Philippines in the late 16th century and early 17th century, they encountered an indigenous cooking process which involved stewing with vinegar, which they then referred to as adobo, the Spanish word for seasoning or marinade. Dishes prepared in this manner eventually came to be known by this name, with the original term for the dish now lost to history.

While the adobo dish and cooking process in Filipino cuisine and the general description of adobo in Spanish cuisine share similar characteristics, they refer to different things with different cultural roots. While the Philippine adobo dish can be considered adobo in the Spanish sense—a marinated dish—the Philippine usage is much more specific. Typically, pork or chicken, or a combination of both, is slowly cooked in vinegar, crushed garlic, bay leaf, black peppercorns, and soy sauce then often browned in the oven or pan-fried afterward to get the desirable crisped edges.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobo_(Filipino_cuisine))

There are two meats that can be use in cooking adobo. You can use pork and chicken, others combine them. Cooking Adobo is not really hard to prepare. Its a matter of combining all the ingredients, boil to let it tender, and to adjust the sauce.

Let us try the Chicken-Pork Adobo:


Ingredients:

• ½ pound pork, cut into cubes
• ¼ cup vinegar
• ½ cup soy sauce
• 1 whole bulb garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 cup minced onions
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups water
• ½ pound chicken, cut into cubes

Combine the pork, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, onions, pepper, bay leaves and water and bring to a boil. Simmer until the pork is moderately cooked. Add the chicken and simmer for 20 minutes.



Photos from Wikipedia

Read more »

Pin It now!