Vegan Filipino Kare-Kare or Peanut Stew: It’s a rich, thick, and creamy savoury Filipino Peanut Stew with long beans, eggplant, and pechay tagalog (similar to bok choy).
The word ‘kare’ is actually derived from the word curry.
ANNATTO SEEDS
Kare-Kare gets is distinct orange-ish yellow colour from annatto seeds, that when soaked give off a rich reddish hue.
You can also use annatto powder.
VEGGIES TO USE
Kare-Kare is traditionally cooked with ox tail, but there are other variants like a seafood, beef, and vegetable Kare-Kare.
Of course for this version I used all vegetables for a vegan version. I used a mix of pechay (similar to boy choy), long beans, and Chinese eggplants.
You can also opt to add in other vegetables such as banana blossom or hearts (puso ng saging) or even jackfruit if you want that “meaty” texture similar to pork.
Some pan-fried tofu also works well with vegan kare-kare!
THE OTHER INGREDIENTS
ENJOYING THIS PEANUT STEW
I grew up eating this dish and it’s something that I love to have with ‘bagoong’ or shrimp paste.
It’s also a dish usually enjoyed by my family together whether there’s a special occasion or not. It’s perfect for sharing and is best enjoyed with some rice!
I would recommend cooking some Filipino Fried Garlic Rice or Sinangag! Or even just some plain rice would do 🙂
I made my own vegan bagoong or shrimp paste, too! You can find the full homemade recipe here.
Check out these Filipino recipes, that are perfect for sharing!
Filipino Kaldereta or ‘Meat’ Stew
Filipino Lumpiang Gulay or Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls
You might enjoy these other recipes, too!
- Chili Garlic and Black Bean Eggplant Noodles
- Easy Sweet, Spicy, and Saucy Noodles
- Stir-Fried Tofu and Basil Noodles
- Pan-Fried Tofu Cakes
- Tofu ‘McNuggets’
- Tantanmen (Vegan Ramen)
- Yaki Udon
- Japanese Chahan or Fried Rice
Are you looking for more delicious, vegan recipes?
Check out my latest Vegan Kitchen eBook, that has over 95 recipes (and a whole section for Asian recipes!) that are packed with flavour and made with simple and easily accessible ingredients! Also, two trees (instead of 1!) will be planted for every download of my eBook through non-profit organisation One Tree Planted.
Vegan Filipino Vegetable Peanut Stew or Kare-Kare (Kare-Kareng Gulay)
Ingredients
Annatto Mixture (Optional, see notes)
- 1 1/2 tsp ‘atsuete’ or annatto seeds optional for colour (see notes)
- 1/4 cup hot water for the annatto
Kare-Kare
- 4 medium Chinese eggplants 380g, see notes for other vegetable options!
- 400 g long beans (sitaw)
- 350 g pechay tagalog or bok choy
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup crushed peanuts see notes
- 1/2 cup smooth and creamy peanut butter + 1/2 tbsp or more! (see notes)
- 1 cup vegetable broth OR water and then add in 1 vegetable bouillion/cube
- 1/3 cup white rice flour , 35 g
- 2 to 3 tbsp sugar adjust according to desired sweetness
- 1/2 to 1 tsp salt or to taste
- Additional 1/2 to 1 cup vegetable broth or water to thin out
To serve
- Steamed rice OR
- Sinangag Filipino Fried Garlic Rice
- Vegan bagoong or ’shrimp’ paste , see homemade recipe here
Instructions
- In a small bowl, place the annatto seeds, if using. Pour in the hot water and leave to soak for the seeds to release its colour. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, slice the vegetables. I sliced my long beans into 2” long pieces. For the eggplants, I sliced them diagonally into half before slicing into 2” pieces as well. For the pechay/bok choy, I simply chopped the ends off and separated the leaves.
- Heat a large pan or wok over medium high. Add 1 tbsp oil. Sauté the eggplant until slightly tender, around 4 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Repeat this for the long beans and add a splash of water to half cook, as needed. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Lastly, quickly sauté the bok choy/pechay as well for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. I like to cook my vegetables down for a few minutes so they can release some of the liquid and won’t make my kare-kare too watery later on.
- In the same plan, add in the remaining oil. Once hot, sauté the garlic and onion for 2 minutes until tender and aromatic.
- Move the onion and garlic to the side of the pan and then add in the crushed peanuts. Lightly toast the peanuts over medium high heat for around 4 minutes, moving around every minute or so.
- Add in the peanut butter and mix well with the crushed peanuts.
- Pour in the vegetable broth or water with a vegetable cube. Leave to simmer over medium high heat, mixing constantly, until the peanut butter dissolves.
- Mix in the rice flour until it dissolves as well and then leave to boil over medium high heat.
- Leave to cook until the sauce thickens and mix every 2-3 minutes to make sure the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Strain the annatto seeds from the water/liquid and then pour in the annatto liquid into the stew. Give it a good mix.
- Add in the sautéed vegetables. Mix well to incorporate in the sauce. Season with salt and sugar, to taste, as desired.
- Add in more water or vegetable broth to thin out the sauce if you'd like. Season with more salt/sugar to taste if needed. Feel free to add more peanut butter, if you'd like it creamier/nuttier!
- Once the vegetables are cooked through, turn off the heat.
- Enjoy while hot with some steamed rice or Filipino Fried Garlic Rice and some vegan bagoon or vegan shrimp paste, if desired. You can see homemade bagoong or "shrimp" paste recipe here.
Notes
- Annatto: the annatto here is what gives this stew a distinct yellow/orange colour. It doesn’t really affect the stew in terms of flavour but of course without it the stew will be a shade of brown from the peanut butter.
- If using annatto powder, simply dilute 1/2 to 1 tsp in some water.
- Crushed Peanuts: For the peanuts, I simply roughly chopped some roasted slightly salted peanuts I had.
- Peanut Butter: I used slightly salted peanut butter. I started with 1/2 cup peanut butter and added around 1/2 tbsp more! So feel free to add more if you’d like it even creamier and nuttier. You can also add more sugar if you’d like a sweetener Kare-Kare.
NUTRITIONAL INFO
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This Post Has 12 Comments
Ahh made this today and yummm! Thanks for the recipe ?
Glad you enjoyed it ◡̈ thank you!!
Made this today for my filipino boyfriend and he said 10/10! Sooo good ?
Hi Jillian!! So happy to hear this! Haha it really means a lot especially coming from a fellow Filipino. And so sweet of you to make it for him ❤️
I love this dish I am not vegan but I cook its a lot for my customers!
That looks lush; I’m looking forward to giving it a go.
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Is there another substitute for white rice flour?
Hi Bea, I’m afraid not. The Kare-kare sauce really gets thickness from ground rice or rice flour. 🙂
Maybe arrowroot?
Please lower the number of ads on the site! I really want to make the recipe, but I can’t even see it because there’s an ad every time I scroll down and an ad after every paragraph 🙁 I’d like to send it to my friend but I can’t because of the number of ads. I’m sure it’s a good recipe though…
Hey! Sorry this is your experience. It’s how I keep things running and keep all my recipes free. There is a ‘jump to recipe’ button at the top of the page that allows you to head straight to the recipe, and a ‘print recipe’ option where you can download the recipe for free. Hope this helps 🙂