Vegan Vegetable Medley with Peanut Sauce or Vegan "Kare Kare"



This dish is the vegan version of Kare Kare, which is very unique to the Philippines.  In this version, a medley of vegetables consisting of browned garlic, onions, eggplant, green beans and cabbage is deliciously coated with a thick sauce made from peanut butter and soy sauce.  Even without the other traditional ingredients,  the thick delicious sauce makes this vegan version a fix for a Kare Kare craving.

I consider Kare Kare together with Dinuguan to be dishes that are truly indigenous to the Philippines.  The traditional Kare Kare is prepared using oxtail and/or tripe with a medley of vegetables cooked in a broth flavored with peanut butter which is either store bought or made from crushed peanuts and sometimes rice washings.  It is then eaten with "bagoong", a type of anchovy made from sauteing tiny shrimps with pork belly.  When I go home to the Philippines or visit my sisters in Los Angeles, Kare Kare is the dish that I usually request.  I have made the traditional Kare Kare using the slow cooker to cook the oxtail till tender and then adding the medley of vegetables later on.

I have to admit the oxtail is what makes this wickedly delicious but it has a high fat content and sometimes difficult to find even at large grocery stores. Bagoong is also hard to come by in Pittsburgh, PA.  There are days, however, I just have to have my Kare Kare fix.  What to do then?

I have seen vegetarian Kare Kare in the menu of a Filipino restaurant in San Francisco but I missed ordering it.  This made me curious enough to look for this version in the internet.  I actually found several in vegan websites including this one.  I convinced myself to make a vegan version with more easily available ingredients and fewer steps than this one in the internet.

At first, I thought I would miss the key elements like the oxtail and the bagoong when I prepared the vegan version but I did not.  What really makes Kare Kare for me anyway is the peanut taste mixed with the saltiness from a certain source.  For the latter, I decided to use soy sauce though I could have used fish sauce.  I wanted it to be totally vegan as a challenge. 

I really love the result.  The key is the ratio of the peanut butter to soy sauce to water to give that right Kare Kare flavor that I crave for.  My prepared Kare Kare is thicker in consistency than the traditional and the vegan versions in the internet which were more like stews. I prefer my vegetables to be coated with a thick sauce rather than swimming in a thin broth.  I want the flavor to be pronounced enough you would not be missing the bagoong or the fattiness of the oxtail.

The choice of vegetables is also important.  I prefer including green beans, eggplant and cabbage.  You can add other vegetables if you want.  I make it also a point that the garlic is cooked till brown but not burnt.   This recipe is really a fix for my Kare Kare craving even without the oxtail and bagoong.  I can now sleep in peace at night when I have this craving for this dish knowing I can have it in a more convenient version.

Vegan Vegetable Medley with Peanut Sauce or Vegan "Kare Kare"

 Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 cups green beans
• 2 cups sweet potatoes, cut in 1 inch slices
• 1 medium eggplant, (slice vertically to 1/4 inch thick slices and microwave for 4-5 minutes till tender then cut to 1 inch strips)
• 3 cups napa cabbage*, cut into 1 inch slices
• 4 tbsps peanut butter
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in medium heat and then add the garlic and onion till the garlic is browned but not burnt.    Add the green beans and sweet potatoes and saute them till they are tender.

Make a well in the mixture of vegetables in the wok or pan and add the peanut butter, soy sauce and water to this space and blend with a whisk.

Continue heating and then add the eggplant and napa cabbage and mix them with the rest of ingredients till they are heated through.  Watch that you do not overcook the napa cabbage.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over rice.

*Note: if you are using green cabbage, you will need to add it with the green beans and potatoes since they need to cook longer than the napa cabbage I used.