Filipino Whole30 Eats: Kare Kare

This one I was really hesitant to try. If there is any Filipino dish that I would have thought was impossible to make Whole30 compliant while retaining its essential taste, it would have been kare kare. The signature component of kare kare is its thick, redolent peanut sauce; it’s what makes it kare kare – and of course peanuts are not allowed in Whole30. I’d seen one or two recipes online that used nuts or nut butters as substitutes, but I was sure they would never measure up to the kare kare that Filipinos know and love; I was sure their taste would simply be too bland, too different.

Also, kare kare’s usual accompaniment is bagoong, the ubiquitous, salty/shrimpy seasoning/condiment that is never far from Filipino tables. And I’ve never found any brand of bagoong that didn’t have offplan ingredients (such as soy oil, corn oil, sugar, or various preservatives). So I thought for sure that kare kare would just have to remain an offroad pleasure, never to be folded into the ever-growing menu of Whole30-compliant dishes.

But no harm in trying, right? Plus, I had some farmer’s market oxtails in the freezer that had been patiently waiting for me to build up the gumption to give this a try. So I finally did.

I think of all the Filipino Whole30 dishes I’ve tried, this actually hit the mark the closest. I leaned heavily on anchovies to 1) simulate the rich umami flavor of the peanut sauce (more than making up for the relative blandness of the almond base I used in place of peanuts), and 2) replace bagoong as the delivery system of concentrated bits of salty goodness. What I came up with was, if I may say, pretty damn good – a kare kare dish that was indubitably kare kare. Just like I’ve always known it.

Translations

Bagoong (Bah-goh-ohng): fermented shrimp or krill paste, a common condiment

Kare kare (Kah-reh kah-reh): a stew in thick peanut sauce, typically with oxtail, tripe, and a variety of vegetables

Patis (pah-tis): fish sauce

Puso ng saging (Poo-soh nahng sah-ging – first “g” in saging is a hard “g”): literally, “banana heart” – the blossom of the banana tree

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. oxtails
• 2 Chinese eggplants, cut diagonally into 2-inch chunks
• 1 bundle of Chinese string beans, cut into 3-inch slices (about 3-4 cups)
• 3-4 bok choy, trimmed and separated into leaves
• 1 onion, coarsely chopped
• 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1 cup almond butter
• 2 tablespoons anchovy paste
• 2 tablespoons annatto oil (see below)
• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch
• Salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons ghee, divided
• 6-8 cups of water
• 1 can of anchovies, minced

For the annatto oil –

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2  tablespoons annatto seeds

Substitutions: tripe and puso ng saging (banana blossoms), are almost always included in kare kare; other kinds of meats, such as goat meat and pig legs, are sometimes used; there are seafood variations with prawns, squid, and mussels, as well as all-vegetable versions.

Instructions

1. To prepare the annatto oil: heat the extra virgin olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the annatto seeds, stir occasionally until bubbles start to form. Let simmer for a few minutes, then turn off the heat and allow to cool. Strain out the annatto seeds and keep the oil.
2. Heat a large pot over medium high heat and add 2 tablespoons of ghee. Add the oxtails and cook them in the ghee, turning them to make sure they are browned on all sides. Add the onions and garlic, continuing to mix, until the onions are translucent and the garlic starts to brown.
3. Add enough water in the pot to cover the meat – about 6-8 cups. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover the pot, and simmer gently for at least 3 hours.
4. Once the meat is fork tender and almost dropping off the bone, add the almond flour, almond butter, anchovy paste, and annatto oil. Slowly sprinkle in the tapioca starch, stirring continuously. Add salt and pepper to taste. Continue cooking and stirring until you have a thick, mustard-colored sauce.
5. Heat a large pan over medium heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of ghee. Sauté the eggplants for several minutes, then add the string beans. Continue to sauté until the eggplants and string beans soften and are nearly cooked. Add the bok choy leaves and sauté for a few more minutes until the bok choy starts to wilt.
6. Add the veggies into the pot with the oxtails and nut sauce. Stir to mix the stew thoroughly. Adjust the seasoning as necessary.
7. Serve hot with bowls of cauliflower rice and small sauce plates of minced anchovies on the side as added seasoning.

Makes 5-6 servings.

How this is Whole30

Almond flour and almond butter take the place of peanuts to form the sauce base. We avoid bagoong by using anchovy paste and minced anchovies instead.

• About Whole30

Filipino Whole30 Eats: Bola Bola

Still recovering from a cold, I seem to be in a soup kind of mood nowadays. (It’s also been the weather for it.) So I thought I’d try to make Whole30 compliant an old family dish: meatball soup. Versions of this go by a number of names: misua soup, almondigas, bola bola sopas. We just called it bola bola and slurped away.

Translations
Bola bola (Boh-lah boh-lah): meatballs, or any of several dishes featuring meatballs
Misua (Miss-wah): Chinese vermicelli
Sopas (Soh-pahs): soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/4 cup minced onions
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 large cucumber, peeled, de-seeded, and cut into roughly 1-inch wide by 2-inch long pieces
• 2 cups cooked spaghetti squash

Instructions

1. Mix the ground pork, egg, onions, salt and pepper, and tapioca starch in a bowl. Pinch off and roll pieces of the meat mixture into balls. Size can be 1 to 2 inches, your call.
2. Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a large pot. Place the meatballs in the chicken stock, cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 25 minutes.
3. Add the cucumber pieces and spaghetti squash. Turn off the heat and let the pot sit for about five minutes, letting the residual heat soften the cucumber. Transfer the soup into bowls and serve hot.

Makes about 3 servings. Serve with coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute) in small bowls as seasoning.

How this is Whole30

I used tapioca starch instead of corn starch as the binder. More importantly, I took out the misua or Chinese vermicelli (made of wheat) from the recipe and replaced it with spaghetti squash.

• About Whole30

Filipino Whole30 Eats: Bulalo

Back in my college years, I would often go with friends on scuba diving trips to Anilao in the province of Batangas, a few hours drive from Metro Manila. On the way home after a weekend or several days or a week on the beach, we would usually stop at one of the many hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Batangas to have a cheap (since we would be broke by this time) and hearty (since we would be ravenous after all the diving) meal of bulalo, one of the culinary specialties of the region. The perfectly satisfying capper to our days in the beach.

It’s unfortunate that bulalo gets a bad rap nowadays among Filipinos as a high fat, high cholesterol food. Like a lot of other people, we, too, have bought into the fat=bad myth. In truth, bulalo is a very healthy Filipino dish, one that fits really well with Whole30 principles. It’s largely compliant to begin with, it fits perfectly into the Whole30 template (protein, good fats, lots of veggies), and with bone marrow dissolved right into the broth, you’ve got that bone marrow mojo working for you. (Some of the marrow will remain in the bone, ready for the scooping with your handy bulalo spoon).

Bulalo is especially good on cold, rainy, dreary days; it’s our version of comfort food. It’s been a wet, stormy weekend here in the Bay Area, so the timing was perfect to make a pot of bulalo for my family’s Sunday get-together lunch.

Translations
Bulalo (Boo-lah-loh): literally, bone marrow. Also, a soup or stew with beef shanks and various veggies.
Patis (pah-tis): fish sauce
Saging na saba (sah-ging nah sah-bah): sweet plantain, aka saba banana, also sometimes called cardaba banana

Ingredients

• 4 beef shanks (about 3 1/3 lbs.)
• 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
• 3 baby bok choy
• 1 small cabbage, quartered
• 3 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and halved
• 2 green onions, cut in 1/4-inch slices
• 3-5 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup patis
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorn
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons ghee or other cooking fat
• 9-10 cups of water

Substitutions: You can use napa cabbage in place of/in addition to the bok choy and cabbage. Some recipes also include saging na saba in the stew. And one of these days, I’m going to try this with Brussels sprouts or purple cabbage, just for variety.

Instructions

1. Pour the water into a large pot and bring to a boil. Heat the ghee in a large frying pan. Sear the beef shanks, about 1 minute on each side.
2. Place the beef shanks in the boiling water, along with the onion, garlic, black peppercorn, bay leaves, and patis. Cover and lower the heat. Simmer for 2-3 hours. (You want to cook it long enough for the beef to become really tender, but not so long that all the marrow dissolves into the broth.)
3. Raise the heat and bring the pot to boiling again. Add the carrots and potatoes and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the root veggies are cooked but not mushy.
4. Add the bok choy, cabbage, and green onions. Turn off the heat and let the residual heat wilt these veggies. Adjust the seasoning if necessary.
5. Transfer to a large serving bowl and serve immediately.

Makes about 6 servings. Have small bowls of patis on hand for additional seasoning.

How this is Whole30

As I said, bulalo is fairly compliant to begin with. I just made sure the beef shanks were from pastured, grass-fed cows, since it is a fatty cut (marrow is mostly fat) and you want to steer clear of the toxins that accumulate in the fat of factory animals. I omitted the corn that other recipes include. And of course the heaping mound of rice that normally accompanies this soup should be banished from the table.

Also, a cooking note: a lot of other recipes call for a double boiling method (boil the beef once, then remove from the water and finish cooking in new water), or else they say to skim the “scum” that floats up as you cook, the object being to remove as much of the fat and “impurities” as you can, to end up with a nice, clear broth. I find this silly; you want to keep all that good stuff in, including the fat, not throw them out.

• About Whole30

Filipino Whole30 Eats: Tapa

Usually served with fried eggs and garlic fried rice, tapa is a mainstay of Filipino breakfasts. (It’s not to be confused with tapas, the general term for Spanish or Spanish-inspired appetizers or small dishes). Here’s a Whole30 version of this popular Filipino breakfast meat.

Translations
Tapa (Tah-pah): dried or cured strips of beef (sometimes other meats or even fish)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. beef sirloin, sliced into thin strips
• 3-5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup puréed Asian pear (1 small pear)
• 1/2 cup coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Prepare your marinade by mixing the coconut aminos, puréed pear, minced garlic, and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Place the beef strips in a ziploc bag or other container and pour the marinade over them. Massage or mix the meat to make sure all the pieces are coated. Refrigerate for 1-2 days.
2. Pour 2 cups of water into a large frying pan. Bring to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons of coconut oil.
3. Put the marinated beef into the pan. Let it simmer until all the water has evaporated. Stir often once you’re down to the crackling oil to avoid burning the meat. Once the beef strips start to brown, you’re done!

Makes about 3 servings. Obviously, rice is out for Whole30, but do have them with eggs plus veggie side dishes. Atchara is a typical partner for tapa (or any Filipino breakfast dish, really).

How this is Whole30

The Asian pear puree substitutes for the sugar that is typical of tapa recipes. Coconut aminos takes the place of the usual soy sauce.

• About Whole30

Filipino Whole30 Eats: Embotido

Haven’t done one of these in a while, but I’m currently on another Whole30, so I thought this would be a good time to post another recipe. Embotido is a classic Filipino holiday season dish (I made a batch for a family get-together this past Christmas), but you can enjoy it any time of the year.

Translations
Embotido (Ehm-boh-tee-doh): Filipino meatloaf dish, usually made from ground pork

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground pork
• 1 oz. chopped prosciutto
• 2 small eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons raisins
• 1/2 small onion, chopped fine
• 1 small apple, chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

For the gravy:

• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch

Substitutions: I’ve used other sausage-type meats, such as chopped chicken apple sausage or Andouille sausages as extenders instead of prosciutto. You can also work in other veggies such chopped carrots and diced bell peppers, as well as slices of hard-boiled egg, into the mixture.

Instructions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients (except those for the gravy) in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly but do not overwork the meat.
2. Divide the meat mixture into two. Place one portion on a 12 x 12 inch square of aluminum foil. Roll the meat like you would a burrito. Cinch the ends to make sure the meat is sealed in the aluminum tube. Place the tube on a roasting pan or a wire rack with a baking sheet under it.
3. Do the same with the remaining half of the meat mixture. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 1 hour.
4. Remove from oven. Let sit for about 20 minutes, then unwrap from the foil. Be sure to save the drippings!
5. Optional: To make for a crispy exterior and for added flavor, you can fry the rolls in ghee to brown all sides. So good!
6. Cut into slices and serve.

Making the gravy:

1. While the embotido is sitting, pour the drippings into a small sauce pan. Add the chicken stock and tapioca starch. Cook on low-medium heat while continuously stirring, until the gravy is a thick consistency.

Makes about 4 servings. These freeze well, so I tend to double the portions and stock up. Or triple them and bring the extras to family gatherings where they disappear in an instant.

How this is Whole30

There may be as many variations of embotido as there are Filipino cooks, but most of them include non-Whole30 ingredients such as bread crumbs, corn starch, cheese, catsup, pickle relish, sauces and seasonings, and minced processed meats such as ham, hotdogs, Vienna sausage, and chorizo. This recipe avoids all those and uses all compliant ingredients and substitutes, such as chopped apple for pickle relish, tomato paste for catsup, coconut aminos for soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce, and prosciutto for noncompliant processed meats.

• About Whole30

Filipino Whole30 Eats: Fried Chicken

All good things, etc.

It’s been really fun tinkering with traditional Filipino recipes this past month to make them Whole30 compliant. And not just the recipes: as I wrote in a previous post, one of my goals was to try to figure out food combinations and strategies to create meals wherein rice is not the sun and everything else just revolves around it. As this food project draws to a close, let me just recap some of the alternatives we’ve explored:

You can use cauliflower rice as a substitute, as I did when I made beef kaldereta and mango tocino.

You can use sweet potatoes as the main starchy component, as I did with my bistek Tagalog; or you can use saging na saba (sweet plantains), as I did with my (so-called) Arroz a la cubana.

You can use noodle-less pancit to accompany your protein instead of rice. Regular pancit (with rice noodles) already substitutes for rice occasionally, but making it Whole30 using spaghetti squash allows you to make a much healthier swap.

You can make egg “rice,” as I did with my skinless longanisa. This is a particularly adaptable strategy for breakfast, since many of our breakfast dishes already combine various meats and fishes with eggs and rice. Just omit the rice and elevate the role of the eggs, and you still have a great meal combination. (I used a somewhat similar strategy with my tinapa egg scramble.)

You can make hefty salads from such dishes as pork adobo, instead of making them part of just another rice meal.

And I’m sure there are many, many more strategies and substitutions out there just waiting to be realized.

More than anything, I hope I’ve shown here that there are alternatives to our rice-centric meals that nevertheless hew close to our beloved dishes and traditions. So that even if not many Filipinos do a Whole30, at least it’s clear that we have the option of trying other meals – delicious and healthy meals – that do not always require rice.

And as for the non-Filipinos who may have visited these pages, please do consider trying some of these recipes. I think they’re pretty good, and you might just like them. Something different, you know.

Anyway, enough big picture stuff. Here’s a final recipe to close out this project: Filipino-style fried chicken.

Translations
Kalamansi (kah-lah-mahn-si): small, very tart citrus fruit
Patis (pah-tis): fish sauce

Ingredients

• 6 chicken pieces (wings, thighs, drumsticks)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons patis
• 1 tablespoon kalamansi juice
• a couple of pinches of ground black pepper

Substitutions: Try, try, try to get kalamansi juice (in frozen or concentrate form) from a Filipino or Asian grocery store. It will really give your chicken a sharper, tangier, authentically Filipino taste. But if you absolutely can’t find any, then go ahead and use the juice from half a lemon.

Instructions

1. Drizzle the patis and kalamansi juice onto the chicken and dust them with the ground pepper, turning the pieces over to make sure all sides are coated. Store in the fridge and let marinate for at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 475 degrees. Heat up an oven-proof skillet in medium-high heat with a couple of tablespoons of cooking fat that can stand relatively high temperatures. I used ghee (clarified butter) for the buttery taste, but coconut oil is good, too. 
3. Place the chicken pieces skin down in the oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Lower the heat to medium-low and continue to cook the chicken for 12-15 minutes, rotating the pan a quarter turn every 3-4 minutes to ensure even heat distribution and turning the chicken to cook all sides. You want the fat to render and the chicken skin to turn golden. (Be careful not to pull the skin off if it sticks to the pan. Use a spatula to gently scrape it off if this happens.)
5. Transfer the entire skillet into the oven and cook for another 10 minutes. Flip the chicken, then cook for another 5 minutes or so until the skin is crunchy brown and the chicken is cooked through.
6. Remove from the oven, transfer to a plate and let rest for about 5 minutes. Try not to munch on the skin before serving.

Makes 2 crispy/juicy servings of fried chicken deliciousness.

How this is Whole30
I made sure to get a pasture-raised, organic chicken for this, since I would be eating a lot of chicken skin (the toxins in factory-raised chicken are concentrated in the skin). I also skipped flouring the chicken, the way I used to in my pre-Paleo days.

• About Whole30