Kare-Kare

Kare-kare is the stew of Filipino fiestas, a rich oxtail dish simmered until the meat is velvet-soft and bathed in a golden peanut sauce. Its name comes from kari, the curries that arrived with Malay and Indian traders, but over the centuries it became something entirely Filipino — thick with ground peanuts, tinted with annatto, and served with a dollop of salty shrimp paste on the side. Families pass down their own twists, some adding tripe, some swapping in beef shank, but the peanut sauce never changes. It is the dish that shows up at every important gathering, and the one grandmothers guard their recipes for.

Nutty, savory, and deeply comforting

The sauce is creamy and almost gravy-thick, with a deep roasted-peanut flavor that wraps around tender oxtail, eggplant, and string beans. A spoonful of bagoong — funky, salty, and pungent — is stirred in at the table to balance the mellow sauce, and that sweet-salty clash is what makes kare-kare unforgettable. It is rich enough to stand alone, yet somehow always leaves room for seconds.

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