Prawn Kare-Kare: A Stirring Marriage of Peanut Butter and Prawns

Kare-kare is a rich Filipino meat or seafood stew with green beans, pak-choy and eggplant on a savory peanut butter based sauce. The sauce is also flavored and colored with annatto seeds or powder. This dish is always served with white rice and a little sautéed shrimp paste called bagoong as condiment. This is a fine dining version of this dish, using the vegetables as garnish and pouring the sauce on top of the protein.

Makes around 4 plates

Ingredients:

• I kilogram tiger prawns

• 200 ml chicken stock

• 2 Tablespoons peanut butter

• Annatto extract (3 Tablespoons annatto seeds soaked in 80 ml. of water)

• 1 Tablespoon toasted ground rice

• 1 Teaspoon garlic, minced

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1 Teaspoonful butter

• 3 Tablespoons olive oil

• Salt and pepper

• Cooked white rice

GARNISH:

Eggplant

Pak-choy

Filipino String beans

Procedure:

Boil 2 cups of water and 2 teaspoons of salt. Add the tiger prawns and boil for another 5 minutes or until the prawns are cooked. Remove the shells and set aside.

Sautee onion and garlic on a non-stick pan until light brown. Add peanut butter and annatto extract and stir until it’s melted into the mixture.

Add chicken broth, butter, toasted ground rice and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes while stirring occasionally.

Add more or less toasted ground rice depending on your desired thickness of the sauce. Set aside.

Cut eggplants, pak choy and string beans at uniformed length. Eggplants, 1 inch long, pak choy and string beans, 2 inches long.

Pan-fry eggplants turning all sides frequently until tender.

Steam pak choy and string beans and season with a little salt

Arrange all cooked ingredients on a serving plate. Pour the sauce on top or serve it on the side.