One of the typical dishes we prepare back home in the Philippines is this oxtail stew. The very best for fiestas and special occasions! Over hot, cooked rice, serve.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 35 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds beef oxtail, cut into pieces
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 large eggplant, cut into 2-inch chunks
- ½ head bok choy, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ pound fresh green beans, trimmed and snapped into 2-inch pieces
- ¼ cup peanut butter, or as needed to thicken sauce
Instructions
- Fill a large saucepan with water; add oxtail, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 2 hours over medium-low heat, skimming off the foam occasionally, until oxtail meat is very tender and broth is reduced to 3 cups.
- Stir in eggplant, bok choy, and green beans; simmer for about 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
- Just before serving, place peanut butter in a small bowl and thin with 1 or 2 tablespoons of broth. Stir until smooth and add to stew.
- Oxtails produce a lot of fat as they cook; strain off excess grease from the stew before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 395 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 15 g |
| Cholesterol | 125 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 40 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 683 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this recipe and I loved it so much. I made no changes. Doesn’t need any changes.
Fixed this for company last night and it was a hit. I followed some of the prior comments and used beef broth instead of all water. I used baby bok choy which I thought was more tender. I think cutting the eggplant in 2” cubes is too large, 1” is better.
You can thicken this dish by either: 1) making a slurry of water & cornstarch…and adding it at the end 2–the more traditional way) Toast some uncooked rice in a skillet/over a flame…grinding the toasted rice into a powder…and then adding the powder towards the end of the boiling/cooking.
My second absolute favorite Filipino dish.
I am half-Filipina (mistiza/mestizo) and it’s hard to perfect my Ninays cooking. Also my mother-in-law makes super yummy Kare-Kare. Tonight I finally made a 5-lb batch of it. I followed most of this recipe above except I was too lazy to go buy the green beans! I add wayyy more peanut butter than you’re supposed to. I like it that way. My recipe didn’t even taste nothing like my moms or mother in laws, it was better! : )
great taste. will make again.
Excellent! One of my all time favorites. Used a pressure cooker to cook my oxtails. Used natural peanut butter and sweet rice powder which I toasted first to help thicken the sauce. Best served with anchovy paste. Yummy!
This is similar to how I make it but I brown the oxtail first, use beef broth or add low sodium beef bouillon to the water . Authentic kare kare usually asks for achuete powder but for extra seasoning I add 2 tsp of turmeric and 1 tsp each of cumin and coriander. I cook it for an extra hour. So 3 hours of simmering. I also add more peanut butter to thicken (almost a cup).
I bought an oxtail for another recipe, but only needed half of it. So I decided to try this recipe, and I’m very glad I did. I was quite faithful to the recipe, as I didn’t know what to expect. I used frozen green beans, as it was not the season for fresh. The result was very taste, but the oxtail was quite fatty, which made it a little too rich for our tastes. If I were to make it again, I think I would stop after the first step and chill the meat & broth, removing the congealed fat. Then I would reheat and continue with step 2.
I cooked the meat, onions, garlic, salt and pepper in a pressure cooker for 25 minutes. Then finished according to the recipe instructions. This is a definite keeper. I will make it again.
I upped the amount of meat, used beef broth instead of water both in the stew and for the rice and added some of the herbs that were suggested. Still tasteless.
Very tasty. It is definitely better the second day when the juices have time to meld with the peanut butter.
Made it several times and have always been happy! The only changes are to double the oxtail and the peanut butter at the end. Delicious!
The flavoring is just like grandma’s cooking! Would maybe use less water to make this recipe thicker. Loved the tip of adding 1 tbspn fish sauce. Loved this dish!
So good. Better than what my mom made hahah! But don’t tell her I said that. I used 2.25 lbs of oxtail instead, which turned out for the better because I found myself wanting more of the meat. I simmered for around 2.5 hours and it came right off the bone. I added peanut butter to taste and used annatto powder (also called achiote powder) to get that rich golden color. Eat with sautéed shrimp paste (usually found at an Asian market) and sprinkle with cayenne powder for a little kick.
Surprised the wifey with this. She loved it. I used baby bok choy and creamy peanut butter. Next time i want to use crunchy.
missing some important but hard to find ingredients like banana flowers and some tuber. Also, some reviewers commented about the stew not having enough flavor. This dish is not supposed to have much strong or salty flavor. Like many filipino dishes, you pretty much season them yourself as you eat. A typical seasoning to this would be salted shrimp pastes or salted anchovies. You take some rice with your spoon, add some of the stew, then add some of the salty seasoning and eat. Or if you want to be more traditional, eat with your hands.
Reminds me and my siblings of home. Tried this recipe and it was yummy. Just a few changes, though. First I seared the oxtail on both sides to add taste and texture. Then towards the end also added a bit of fish sauce (1 Tablespoon) for that oomph! Now my brother and sister request this when they visit 🙂
This is one of my favorite foods–I daydream about it when I know I’m going to have it for dinner! One thing that really helps it be excellent is to use BEEF BROTH or BEEF BOUILLON instead of plain water! I also put some cayenne pepper in, and we eat it over rice–YUMMY!
I made this exactly as the recipe stated;and it was very good, but I felt something was missing. I would have given it a 3-star rating after the first attempt… However, I made it a second time, with the following changes/additions: First, in addition to the oxtails, I added about a pound of beef stew meat. (I am matriarch to a family of carnivores!) Then, I browned all of the meat at high heat….using half canola and half olive oil, and I lightly salted and peppered it. This step is so important (to me) in order to flavor the broth! Then I added about a cup of red wine to de-glaze the pot, scraping all of the little crispies from browning the meat. From this point, I followed the recipe pretty closely. (Pretty closely, because I also added fresh Thai basil and marjoram when I added the veggies.) I served it over brown rice, with a wonderful crusty Portuguese bread…it was really an international meal by the time I finished with it! All of my changes bumped the recipe to a 5-star, but I don’t know how authentic it is now! Thanks for the recipe!!
Used veggie burgers instead of the beef. Liked it !