my fave na kare-kare

Being half kapampangan and half ilocano, I learned how to cook different filipino dishes like sinigang, adobo, menudo, ginataang pugita and other stuffs ... but this fave of mine which is called kare-kare is really been quite a puzzle for me. Maybe because i rather eat it than learn how to cook it...

Well maybe someday i'll really try to learn how to cook it. (ang sarap kasi magluto ng dad ko kaya di ko na sinusubukan magluto nito)

Traditionally, kare-kare was cooked with freshly ground roasted peanuts and rice. Well, there’s nothing like cooking it that way, but other people find the procedure too much for today’s busy lifestyle. The easiest option is, of course, to get one of those ready mixes that are abundant in supermarkets. Finally, about bagoong alamang. What is it??? Bagoong alamang is a paste of salted and fermented shrimp fingerlings. I guess it’s an acquired taste. My family usually doesn't put any more bagoong coz my mom is allergic to it they just replace it with salt. But for other Filipinos the partner of Kare-kare is bagoong, it is a must have for them.

And this is how my family cook kare-kare.

Here's the ingredients that my family usually use:

pisngi ng baka - melts in your mouth not in your hand

rumen or reticulum tripe (twalya) - syempre dapat meron nito (must have)

peanut butter (mani) - for the sweet taste

banana bud (puso ng saging) - my fave about kare-kare

annato (atsuete) - for coloring

ground rice (giniling na bigas) - pampalapot, for thickness

string beans (sitaw) - dagdag abubot minsan

garlic (bawang) - pang gisa purpose

onion (sibuyas) - pang gisa purpose

other ingredients we don't use

oxtail (buntot) cut 2 in. long - i barely eat something from it

anchovies (bagoong alamang) - my mom's allergic with it

egg plants (talong) - i don't eat this stuff

pechay - we just don't, i don't know the reason

ox legs (pata) - wala ring laman kaya ayoko