Shiz Can't Cook Series: Kare-Kare

We found some oxtail at Albertsons, so we decided that'll be our next slow cooker project. While discussing what flavor to go with, we bought a packet of beef stew, but I also mentioned that I like the peanut butter flavored oxtail soup that Ards makes.

So I looked up the recipe... also consulted Ards (who consulted her dad & auntie)... and decided I'll give kare-kare a try.

Here's the oxtail

Mighty fine pieces.
I also added 4 strips of short rib fillets to add more meat into the soup.


Chopped up onions & bell peppers, and tossed it into the water along w/ the meat pieces. I think you're supposed to sautee the onions, but I was okay w/ them just boiling & dissolving away. Maybe I should have put half in the boiling pot & sauteed the other half.

And bell peppers... we just had a bunch from Ichigo, so I tossed them in. They're not part of the original recipe.

I ended up using the kare kare mix I bought at a Filipino supermarket... but I think there was too much water in the slow cooker (4 cups).

So there was no flavor just w/ the kare kare mix, so I started dumping in peanut butter. We only had crunchy peanut butter, so there are little bits of peanut chunks floating in the soup.

It still seemed like there wasn't enough flavor, so I added more salt. But it still wasn't thickening much.

Then じゅるる said to let the slow cooker simmer w/ the lid off, so the water would boil down. How come I didn't think of that?

After a few minutes, the consistency was right.
And tasted pretty decent too.

Of course I could have added more garlic, but I don't like the smell of garlic right now. And fish paste would have been handy too, perhaps.


But it came out pretty good.
And the oxtail was soft and yummy. That's all that matters, anyway.