A few weeks ago, my daughter corrected me on my spelling of kari-kari and that it was spelled with an “e” rather than an “ I “ . I told her, I couldn’t care less since I’m bisaya and am so proud of being one .I’m still Filipino, ain’t I. But nevertheless, yesterday I decided to make my own version of kari kari or oxtail stew.
I had 4 cuts of oxtail, but didn’t have the other ingredients. Since it was Sunday, and that an open market in the town’s parking garage would be there, I decided to see if there were vegetables to add to my oxtail stew. I only found some Japanese eggplants for the stew, bitter gourd (ampalaya) and leeks for salad, plus a bagful of chocoloate chip cookies for dessert.

So here’s what I did:

4 cuts oxtail
Ginger, onion, peppercorn
3 Japanese eggplants
Bokchoy (purchased days ago)
Kari kari mix

I submerged the 4 pcs.of oxtail in water just to cover . Then turned the heat to boil.
When the water starts boiling , notice that the scum starts to rise.
When you don’t see much red meat on the outside, although it’s still uncooked,
Turn off heat and throw out all the liquid. (I would rather do this than let it continue boiling
I don’t like the smell of langsa meat which is contained in all that scum and first liquid boil).
Then I put fresh water just to cover the meat, put ginger, peppercorns, and onions.
This time I let it boil, then simmer til tender. (if I still see scum, I scoop it out)
I then cut up the Japanese eggplants and put it with the meat.
(this time I cheated since I used the kari kari mix)
I dissolved the mix in a little water and poured it on the stew.
I placed a little salt to taste. Not much since I still have my sidings of bagoong.
I then turned off the heat and placed 2 bunches of bokchoy

I’ve always liked the way Koreans eat, wherein they have so many side dishes. And that’s just what I did.
Aside from the bagoong (which had already been sauted when I bought the jar), I had the ampalaya salad with balsamic dressing, leeks sauted in crab paste with sesame oil and steamed cauliflower for that fresh taste.
So here is how our meal looked like.