Oxtail Stew with Peanut Gravy (Kare Kare)

A favorite dish among Kapampangans (from the province of Pampanga), this menu is eaten with a shrimp paste condiment to add flavor and a bit of saltiness to your tastebuds. This recipe takes a bit of time to prepare but simple enough for everyone to follow. Here goes:


Ingredients:
  1 kilo chopped oxtail
  1 kilo chopped pork hocks (pata)
  2 to 3 tablespoons peanut butter
  1 tspn of paprika or vegetable oil cooked in achuete
  1/4 kilo string beans
  1/2 kilo Taiwan baby cabbage (pechay)
  4 pieces of Japanese eggplant, sliced
  1/2 cup Japanese rice
  5 cloves of garlic
  2 tablespoons of fish sauce
  
In a pot, bring to a boil the oxtail and reduce to low heat and simmer for four hours. Heat a frying pan with no oil and toast the Japanese rice until brown. Set aside to cool and ground in a coffee grinder. 


After simmering for 2 hours, mix in the ground up toasted rice, the chopped pork hocks, the achuete oil or paprika and simmer for the remaining 2 hours. In the last remaining 15 minutes, add the peanut butter and mix until the sauce thickens, add some fish sauce to taste then set aside. In another pot, boil the vegetables until tender and add a dash of salt.


Arrange the vegetables and stew in a 3 inch bowl and serve with some shrimp paste condiment. Enjoy!