Passport & Plate - Crispy Pata Kare-Kare
Philippines | Saturday, February 1, 2014 | 3 photos
Ingredients
Hind leg -- 3/4 kilo
Beef Stock -- 1 liter
Lemon Grass -- 5 pieces (knot well)
Garlic -- 5 cloves
Onion -- 1 medium size
Annatto powder -- 10 grams
Cream -- 320 grams
Peanut -- 80 grams
Egg Plant -- 2 pieces (big shredded slices)
Pechay -- 10 pieces (just cut the stems)
String beans -- 5 pieces (cut into 3 inches)
Oil (for deep frying) -- palm oil would be the best choice
Oil (for saute) -- olive oil
Sweet shrimp paste (For side dish) -- 30grams
How to prepare this recipe1. Use preassure cooker. Pour the 3/4 liter beef stock and add the lemongrass. Add the hind leg. (cook it for 45 mins)
2. While waiting. Use small stock pot. stir-in onion. wait until the onion is tender and brown. then add oil and garlic.
3. Make the garlic brown then pour the remaining beef stock. Add the Annatto powder. Make it boil then simmer.
4. Pour the Cream. Boil then simmer then add the peanut. Mix well. Dissolve it well. Simmer it for 5 minutes
5. Stir-in the Eggplant, simmer it for 3 mins then add the beans. Simmer it for 2 mins then add the pechay. Simmer it for 5 mins.
6. Back to the Hind leg. Take out the hind leg. Prepare the Deep fry oil. Heat it to 340 °F. Deep fry the hind leg until crispy outside.
7. Plate the Hind Leg in the bowl then pour the kare-kare sauce.
8. Serve hot with sweet shrimp paste. Enjoy!
The story behind this recipePersonally I don't like the filipino food even though im from the Philippines. It just happen that my first job is food consultant for a well-known company of filipino dishes. From all the filipino dishes, i got so curious with kare-kare. I first tasted the kare-kare dish with my girlfriend mom. By the way, she is well-known in their city since she is a politician plus she owns a mini-resto (carenderia). I fall inlove with that dish. So everytime i visit my girlfriend house, kare-kare is one of my menu for lunch and dinner. I can't stop myself and i want to practice it. Unfortunately, I failed. I visited different restaurants to taste their own version. I even visited 3 big islands in the Philippines, which is Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Their techniques is just the same. But when i visited Visayas, it just happen that I bought a chicharon (Deep fry pig skin). One of the signature food in Visayas. Their chicharon is so delicious and ive tried it to dip it with kare-kare sauce. OH MY! Thats my first expression.This is the best combination for kare-kare. Crispy outside and juicy inside. I know in my mind that hind leg (Pata in tagalog language) is the most tender part of the pig. So i waste no time. I bought one kilo of it and deep fry it. I dip it with kare-kare sauce! It taste so good! But its hard inside. And I want to improve this more! Improve it that no one can follows it. I want more flavor inside of the meat. So I personally bought a pressure cooker for this.I add beef stock and Lemon grass. Why lemon grass? because it is one of the common ingredients in asia. And I want to improve my kare-kare sauce to. I add cream.Ive tried my new recipe and wow! This is the best! This is one of my best recipes. Ive tried to open a small business for december holiday. Well Filipino celebrates differently during christmas.So I told myself, This will generate an income! So i accept orders during december but believe it or not.I got 50 kilos of order! Nice story isnt it?
