Slow Cooked Oxtail Kare-Kare is a traditional Filipino dish which features slow-cooked oxtail in a thick, tasty, savory peanut sauce with vegetables. The perfect comfort food for Autumn and Winter!
Oxtail is a second class cut that our grandparents grew up eating, it often shunned in favor of first-class meat cuts, such as eye fillet and prime rib. Lamb shanks and oxtail are both cuts of meat from the same era that are enjoying a revival.
How to make Oxtail Kare-Kare
Oxtail Kare-kare is a traditional Filipino dish, every Filipino family has their own version of this dish. The unusual ingredients in the recipe can all be found on Amazon; shrimp paste, Mama Sita’s Kare-Kare mix, and Annatto Seeds.
Regardless of the minor variations families may bring to the dish, it always features a thick peanut sauce.
The meat is rich and hearty, and the slow cooking allows the collagen to melt into a rich, sticky broth. In the slow cooker, oxtail performs very similarly to lamb shank. The meat slowly softens and falls from the bone, retaining moisture and flavor.
Our Oxtail Kare-Kare recipe makes 8 servings. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.
Slow Cooked Oxtail Kare Kare - Filipino Peanut Stew Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg Oxtail
- 2 cups water
- 3 tablespoon annatto seed
- 1 cup water for soaking annatto seed
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 onion sliced
- 3 small Lebanese eggplant cut diagonally into 1in lengths
- 1 bunch green snake beans cut into 2in lengths
- 5 pak choy
- 1 packet Mama Sita's Kare-Kare
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup shrimp paste
- 1 tablespoon cornflour
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon salt to taste
Instructions
Preparation
- The first step is to put the meat into the slow cooker with the 2 cups of water. Cover and leave on low for 8 hours or more.
- In a jug, place 1 cup of water and the annatto seed. Allow to sit for at least an hour (or all day). The annatto seeds color the dish.
Method
- Remove the oxtail from the slow cooker and reserve the liquid and meat in separate bowls.
- Fry the onion and garlic in a heavy base casserole dish.
- Add the shrimp paste to the onion mixture and cook gently for one minute.
- Add the meat stock to shrimp mixture. Stir to combine.
- Next add the eggplant and the beans to the casserole dish. Cover with a lid and allow simmer slowly until the eggplant is soft.
- Strain the annatto seed liquid, keeping the water. Discard the Annatto seed.
- Mix the cornflour with the red Annatto seed liquid.
- Add the Mama Sita Kare Kare Sachet to the red liquid and stir until combined.
- Once the eggplant has softened add the peanut butter to the casserole and stir until combined.
- Return the meat to the stew and add the bok choy.
- Gently stir sauce base through the ingredients in the casserole dish. Stir until thickened and serve with rice.
Slow cooking the oxtail gives the meat and the broth, a wonderful silky texture. As with any slow-cooked meat, the dish can be started in the morning and then finished in the evening.
Looking for more slow cooked recipes? Why not try some of our other delicious slow cooker recipes;
- Chinese Braised Beef Cheeks
- Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
- Slow Cooked Maple Lamb Shanks
- Filipino Callos – Slow Cooked Stew
To make a larger batch of this Slow Cooked Oxtail Kare-Kare recipe adjust the servings above.