Cook’s notes
Where did the idea of substituting crispy pork belly for beef offal in kare-kare come from? From a carinderia in Manila. Over a decade ago when my daughters were in college, they told me about a place where the meat in traditional Filipino dishes were replaced with crispy pork belly.
What is bagnet? It is crispy pork belly that hails from the Ilocos region in northern Philippines. In Central Luzon, lechon kawali is what we call crispy pork belly. Although similar, there is a difference in the preparation of bagnet and lechon kawali. In cooking bagnet, sun-drying and double frying gives the pork belly a crispier and lighter rind.
If you don’t have access to frozen bagnet, lechon kawali may be substituted, of course. If deep frying and oil spatters bother you, it is very much possible to cook crispy pork belly in the air fryer.
Bone broth — the kind that congeals as it cools — is essential here. It is what gives the kare-kare sauce its distinctive sticky and gelatinous texture. Just because we’re using crispy pork belly and not simmering beef oxtail or tripe doesn’t mean we can use any liquid for making the sauce. Again, bone broth is essential.
Crispy pork belly
In this recipe, thawed frozen bagnet (ordered online) was used. Fully cooked, it just needed reheating to make the skin turn crisp again.
What is bagnet? It is crispy pork belly that hails from the Ilocos region in northern Philippines. In Central Luzon, lechon kawali is what we call crispy pork belly. Although similar, there is a difference in the preparation of bagnet and lechon kawali. In cooking bagnet, sun-drying and double frying gives the pork belly a crispier and lighter rind.
If you don’t have access to frozen bagnet, lechon kawali may be substituted, of course. If deep frying and oil spatters bother you, it is very much possible to cook crispy pork belly in the air fryer.
Sauce
Bone broth — the kind that congeals as it cools — is essential here. It is what gives the kare-kare sauce its distinctive sticky and gelatinous texture. Just because we’re using crispy pork belly and not simmering beef oxtail or tripe doesn’t mean we can use any liquid for making the sauce. Again, bone broth is essential.Crispy pork belly kare-kare
Ingredients
To tint and thicken the sauce
- 4 to 6 cups bone broth it can be pork, beef or chicken
- ¼ cup annatto seeds
- ¼ cup rice flour (NOT glutinous rice flour!)
Vegetables
- 1 small white cabbage cut into wedges
- 2 large eggplants (preferably the long Asian variety), cut into ¾-inch sliced
- 1 bunch sitaw yard-long beans, cut into 2-inch lengths
Crispy pork belly
- 1 kilogram cooked bagnet (2.2 pounds) reheated in air fryer; or use air fried crispy pork belly
- cooking oil for deep frying if using frozen cooked bagket; omit if using air fried crispy pork belly
Peanut sauce
- ¼ cup smooth peanut butter (we use sweetened)
Instructions
Start making the kare-kare sauce
- Heat the beef broth in a large pan until boiling.
- Place the annatto seeds in a heat-proof bowl, ladle in a cup of hot broth and leave to steep.
- Toast the rice flour in a frying pan until nutty in aroma and just starting to turn a light brown.
Cook the vegetables
- Into the boiling broth, drop in the cabbage wedges and cook for about ten minutes. Scoop out and transfer to a bowl. Cool.
- Add the cut sitaw to the broth. Cook for ten minutes, scoop out and transfer to the bowl with the cabbage.
- Cook the eggplant slices in the broth for five minutes (do not overcook!), scoop out and add to the bowl with the sitaw and cabbage.
Make the peanut sauce
- Transfer the rice flour to a bowl.
- Strain the annatto water, add to the rice flour and mix to make a paste.
- Take half a cup of hot broth, pour into another heat-proof bowl and stir in the peanut butter until fully incorporated.
- Stir the rice flour-annatto paste into the peanut butter until blended.
- Pour the mixture into a pan set over medium heat.
- Ladle in the hot broth, half a cup at a time, while stirring constantly. How much broth you need to add depends on how thick you want your sauce. Stop adding broth when you have reached the consistency that you prefer.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer.
- Taste the sauce and add enough fish sauce to create a good balance of flavors.
Assemble the bagnet kare-kare
- Cut the crispy pork belly into portions and arrange in a bowl surrounded by the cooked cabbage, eggplant and sitaw.
- Ladle in the peanut sauce.
Garlic noodles