Tribute to Mang Dolphy

The most memorable trivia I remember about Dolphy is his love for women and food.

In one interview, if my memory serves me right, it was with Arnold Clavio, Dolphy told an anecdote about his favorite food of all time, Kare-Kare. He even cared to emphasize with "maanghang-anghang na bagoong".



The story goes like this, in one of his birthdays (which happens to be July 25th), this was during the time when he was still in several relationships, he was able to eat Kare-Kare four times within the day. The good father, partner and son that he is, Dolphy never failed to pay a visit to his (several) families on his birthdays. Since all of his partners knew of his fondness to Kare-Kare, all three partners plus his own mother prepared the same meal which he, of course, had to show appreciation by eating. He jokingly added, that night even in dreams he was eating Kare-Kare.

As my personal tribute to the King of Comedy, here's my own Kare-Kare recipe.

Ingredients:

1.5 kls. Ox Tail cut into serving size
1/2 cup cooking oil
3 pieces eggplant, sliced diagonally
10 strings sitaw (string beans) cut to 2" long
1 bunch petchay, separated
1 piece Banana bud (puso ng saging), cut into squares
1/4 cup atsuete
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 pieces onions quartered
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup grounded toasted rice
1/2 cup cooked bagoong

Procedure:

Boil Ox Tail in water until tender. This would take around 3 hours in stove or 30-45 minutes in a pressure cooker.

When the Ox tail is almost fork tender, begin preparing the other ingredients.

Heat half of the oil in a frying pan, fry eggplant, string beans, petchay and banana bud in batches. The vegetables should stay half-cooked so it would just take a minute or two per side.

On a saucepan over medium heat, put the remaining oil, add the atsuete and remove immediately once the oil turns red orange. Saute garlic and onion.

Once the onion has caramelized, get about 3 cups of broth from the ox tail. Bring to a boil.

Once boiling, add the peanut butter and ground rice stirring continuously. Let it simmer for 3 minutes then add the ox tail.

Note: I prefer to use imported brands of peanut butter because they are not overly sweet unlike the local Lily's etc.

Add more broth if needed. Season with bagoong. It's best not to make the sauce salty. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

Finally, add all pre-cooked vegetables. Give them a few stirs then turn off the heat. Cover and let the Kare-Kare sit for about 2 minutes before serving.

Serve with Bagoong on the side.