Celebrating ANHPI History Month

If there’s one love language that Filipinos understand, it’s food. Growing up, the definition of family extended out to cousins by the third degree, neighbors, in-laws and their families - it felt like a village of us! We gathered for everything: birthdays, graduations, Easter, Christmas, weddings, baby showers, First Communions, baptisms … getting a new haircut (kidding) … I remember my mom and Titas would joke that the main star of the party was always the spread, and the celebrant was the host. A 6-foot-long dining table was not for sitting down to eat. Instead, it would serve as the stage on which the star would perform a medley of all the classics like pancit, lumpia, pinakbet, and dinuguan (pork blood stew) served with the fluffy little rice muffins that has an entirely different meaning in Spanish ;-). BBQ skewers and short ribs. Cassava cake, ube cake, leche flan. Bigger celebrations like birthdays, graduations and baptisms meant that a lechon (a whole, pit-roasted suckling pig) would be making a headline appearance. On arrival, we were never greeted with “Hi, nice to see you, how are you?” It was always the same four words: did you eat yet? The answer was irrelevant, because one was expected to eat. It was almost an unspoken rule that we were to eat before scurrying off to see what all the cousins were up to.

So it of course feels like a no-brainer, on a month when we celebrate the rich diversity across the diaspora, to share a little snap shot of this proud SoCal Pinay’s story through the star of this post, kare kare: a rich stew where braised oxtails in a nutty sauce take center stage with my favorite veggies: eggplants, bok choy and long beans. Tripe is also common in the traditional version, but I skip it.

Kare kare is another one of those dishes that is typically saved for special occasions because of the time it takes simmering the oxtails. It was a Christmas tradition in my family home that I carry on now, but it’s so yummy and a hit with the picky eater here, so I make it a few times a year. 

This particular recipe was adapted from an online blog that doesn’t seem to exist anymore. I first found it in 2014 and have made only the slightest modifications over the years, so credit to the original creator!

How are you celebrating your heritage? What are some ways you love to connect with and share your culture?

Keep scrolling for the recipe, or download the pdf here. Happy cooking!