Kare-kare is Jeff's favorite food. It's been my problem since we became a couple because I don't know how to cook it. One morning, I was out buying something and I had a light bulb moment -- I will cook kare-kare today. I called my mom and asked her the recipe. Again, she doesn't cook well, she's just good with all the pachams. Hehe. We have a store in Antipolo Public Market so she kinda asks her suki who has carenderias. I used pork chops the first time I cooked it, but unfortunately, I didn't have pictures. This is my second try in cooking kare-kare and I tried a healthier version. Here's my fish kare-kare.
Ingredients:
1 kilogram tilapia, filleted
Pechay
String beans
Eggplant
Unsweetened peanut butter
Coconut milk
Atsuete
Onion
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Let's cook!
1. Wash the fish. Did you ever know that you can buy tilapia from Shopwise and have the fillet it for you? Man, that was the awesomest thing ever! The day we bought tilapia, it was on Buy 1 Take 1 promo so we got two kilograms of fillet, but I only used one for the kare-kare. Pat it try using paper towels, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Heat the frying pan and fry the tilapia fillets until golden. Set aside.
3. Prepare the vegetable. The trick to nicely cooked and crisp vegetable is blanching it and not cooking it with the sauce. Boil some water and put in the pechay and string beans. Take it out of the stove and time it. About 15 to 20 minutes is good for the greens to be half cooked. As for the eggplant, which I don't have a picture of, boil it until it cooks. During the first time I cooked kare-kare, I blanched even the eggplant, so it was not even near half cooked. Hehe.
4. Now prepare the coconut milk. In Antipolo, there is a shop where we buy coconut milk, and I can't find that here in BF Homes. I had to squeeze the milk out of the coconut. Mano mano talaga! We bought three coconuts in Shopwise and asked them to grate it for us. I boiled water and poured it to the grated coconut. Start squeezing. Careful because it is so hot! They say there's the first squeeze and the second squeeze. I just made on big basin of coconut milk haha!
5. Start cooking, sauté the onion and garlic. Onion first, then garlic. ;)
6. Pour the coconut milk in the pan. Make sure you use a strainer.
7. Let it boil. Make sure you stir it.
8. Put the peanut butter. I don't know how much peanut butter to put, so I just put the entire bottle. Make sure you have the unsweetened peanut butter or your kare-kare will taste like dessert. Continue stirring until it becomes thick. Season with salt and pepper. I also put atsuete or annatto for food coloring. Just buy a pack in the supermarket and soak it in hot water. Pour the colored water in the pan.
9. Put in the vegetables and mix well. You're almost done!
10. Put it in a bowl, and top with the fried tilapia fillet. Serve with bagoong alamang.
You can also put crispy pork chops instead of the fish. I mean, it's up to you. Boil the pork chops, air dry it, and then deep fry. ;)
Now who says cooking kare-kare is hard? ;)
PS. My mama puts Mama Sita's Kare-kare mix. You can put that too but the taste will be too rich. :)
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