Pata Kare-kare

Pork Pata Kare Kare is a classic Filipino stew where sliced pork pata pieces are cooked in a nutty yellow thick peanut sauce made with peanuts, onion, garlic, pechay, string beans, eggplant, ground rice, annatto seeds and, cooking oil. This dish much affordable and delicious and large chunks of pata are served with green string beans and purple eggplants to complete the dish. Pata Kare Kare is best eaten with steamed white rice with sauteed bagoong alamang on the side.

THE KARE KARE HISTORY

Just like the Japanese, we have our own type of curry. When I was a kid, I was always joking that the reason why it is called “kare-kare” is because of its root word “curry curry”. Noted by history, the kare kare is our attempt into recreating the curry similar to Japan and Thai. With the use of peanuts and annatto seeds, we were able to make our version of curry dishes. It was the Moro people from Mindanao whom we should give credit to this dish. When the recipe reached Pampanga, it was renamed as “Kare Kare”.

I guess my theory when I was a kid was not wrong at all!

PATA KARE KARE

Would you believe that peanut goes well with steamed rice? Find out how!

I have been making a few bottles of peanut butter to sell for additional income and for personal consumption. Peanuts are filled with fiber, protein and good fats, so why not make something good with them! Even though there are many peanut butter spread combinations you can try, you’ll surely be looking for rice after a week of eating peanut butter sandwiches.

When talking about peanut butter dish, the dish which would go to every Filipino’s mind is Kare-Kare. This dish is highly known with its delicious peanut sauce. Although I know some people who’s not a fan of this sauce, they are definitely missing out a lot!

If you’re not into beef talk and ox tripe, you can still enjoy your kare kare using this recipe. Pata Kare Kare is just another way to enjoy our favorite stew. While it is traditionally made using beef tripe and ox tail, modern versions of this dish use different cuts of meat (even fish!) to be in combination with the yellow peanut sauce.

The peanut sauce is just mildly nutty, it is highly recommended to serve this dish with some bagoong alamang on the side. The salty, savoury and ocean taste of the alamang will surely bring out the best of the kare kare dish. Pour the sauce over hot rice to enjoy it best!

If you wanna know how to make Pata Kare Kare, read and follow the quick and easy steps below. Happy cooking!

HOW TO MAKE PATA KARE KARE

Making kare kare is super easy even without the ready made mixes you can buy from the grocery. Aside from making the pata kare kare, this recipe will also show you how to make your own peanut butter at home! Exciting!

Before anything else, let’s prepare the peanut butter. This step is optional if you already have peanut butter at home, but best to know if you like personalized flavor for your peanut butter. While there are a lot of different kinds of nuts, the best one to use for a kare-kare recipe is the groundnut. It is small in size and is round. It is the most common type of nut found in the market. (This is the variant used in adobong mani, the one with skin.) Preparing the peanuts is easy, as you simply need to toast it in a heated pan. You should do this step with low heat, unless you want your peanuts to burn. This will take a few minutes before the peanuts become brown.

Once the peanuts are brown, simply grind them with a food processor. You can also mash them with a mortar and pestle if you are only dealing with a small batch. Add some veggie oil to create a sticky mixture. Then it’s ready to use! For the kare-kare, we dont need to add any other flavor since we are seasoning the sauce for later. If you want to make homemade peanut butter for business, feel free to add your personal touch to this!

To start with the kare kare, start by boiling the pata slices. This is to ensure that the pata will be soft and cooked through later.

Once soft, saute the aromatics and then add the rest of the ingredients, including water to make the sauce. I used the natural food colorant, annatto seeds to create the luscious yellow orange color of the sauce. Take note that the longer you put the annatto seeds in the sauce, the more vibrant color it will give. Just make sure our kare-kare won’t be red. (HAHA did this once and they thought it was kaldereta).

For the ground rice, you can opt to buy this from the market or simply grind glutinous rice using the same grinder used in the peanuts. Think of the ground rice as cornstarch. The amount of ground rice will depend on how thick you want the sauce to be.

The last steps include adding the vegetables. They are added last since they are very quick to cook. In this recipe, we are doing the classic version of the kare kare where the veggies are already included in the sauce. Modern versions of the kare kare cooks the veggies separately by steaming or blanching and then simply arranging them together in the serving plate.

The pata kare kare is best enjoyed with a lot of rice. It is eaten with bagoong alamang which compliments the nutty flavor of the sauce and the soft and savoury meat. Yum!

Paano Magluto ng Pata Kare-kare

Mga Sangkap:

• 1 kilo pata ng baboy (hiniwa)
• 1 sibuyas (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 2 butil ng bawang (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 1 tasang mani
• 1 bugkos ng pechay
• 1 bugkos ng sitaw (hiniwa)
• 1 talong (hiniwa)
• 1 banana blossom (hiniwa)
• 1 litrong tubig
• giniling na bigas
• atsuete
• mantika
• Pepper Powder
• Shrimp Paste

Paano Lutuin:

1. Magpainit ng kawali gamit ang mahinang apoy. Ilagay ang mga mani (walang mantika) at tustahin ng ilang minuto. Kapag medyo brown na, ilipat ang mga ito sa maliit na food processor (o grinder o bender). I-process ang mani hanggang halos maging powder na. Lagyan ito ng 1-2 kutsara ng mantika at haluin para makagawa ng homemade peanut butter. Isantabi.
2. Magpakulo ng tubig sa isang pot. Ilagay dito ang mga pata at pakuluan ng 1 oras. Kapag malambot na, patayin ang apoy. Isantabi ang mga pata sa isang lalagyan.
3. Magpainit ng isa pang kawali. Igisa ang sibuyas at bawang ng ilang minuto. Sunod na ilagay ang mga pata, homemade peanut butter at 1 litro ng tubig. Haluin ito ng konti at ilagay ang banana blossoms. Takpan ang kawalo at hayaan itong maluto ng ilang minuto.
4. Ilagay ang mga buto ng atsuete sa strainer at ilubog ng ilang beses para magkakulay ang sauce. Kapag yellow-orange na, saka ilagay ang sitaw at talong. Takpan ang kawali at hayaang maluto ang mga gulay.
5. Sunod na ilagay ang giniling na bigas. Pwede mo pa itong dagdagan kung gusto mo ng mas malapot na sauce. Hayaan itong kumulo ng ilang minuto at saka timplahan ng konting paminta.
6. Kapag malapot na ang sauce, ilagay ang mga pechay. Ilubog ang mga ito ng konti sa sabaw para maluto. Takpan ang kawali at hayaan itong maluto ng 1 minuto bago patayin ang apoy.
7. Ilipat ang pork pata kare kare sa serving plate. Kainin ito kasama ng bagoong alamang at malaking bowl ng mainit na kanin. Yum!