Kare Kare Salad

Kare Kare Salad based on all the vegetables you find in the traditional version. Eggplant, baby bok choy and beans with a creamy peanut dressing.

I'm not gonna lie. Making this Kare Kare salad is a process because of all the veggies you need to roast and steam before hand. But once it is all done you have a super refreshing salad. The good thing about it is, you can have it with steamed rice too if you want to eat it as an ulam.

If you want a warm but different kind of Kare Kare, you can try this noodle version too.

Ingredients for Kare Kare Salad

In making this salad I am going to assume you know how to cook. These are the basic guidelines on how to cook the veggies for the salad. If you have a better way do you! This is what you will need to make it.

Roasted Egg Plant - To cook cut the eggplant into 1 inch pieces and drizzle with olive oil and season with garlic salt and sea salt. Place in the oven at 350F for 20 minutes then flip and cook for another 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and place on serving platter.

Roasted Tofu - Take out of container and drain excess liquid. Cut tofu into 1 inch rectangles and drizzle with olive oil and season with garlic salt and sea salt. Place in the oven at 350F for 20 minutes then flip and cook for another 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and place on serving platter.

Garlic Cauliflower Rice - Heat up a wok or large pan and add oil. Once the pan and oil are hot add the cauliflower rice and 3 cloves of minced garlic. Cook until the cauliflower has some brown bits. About 8 minutes.

Steamed Beans - You can use regular green beans or long beans. Steam for 3 minutes and place in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Cut into small 1cm pieces.

Mixed Greens - Any kind will do for this Kare Kare Salad

Chopped Baby Bok Choy - The smaller the better and sweeter and chop them up into small slivers.

Purple Endive - This is more for a color contrast and I love the texture of endive. They are so refreshing.

Peanuts - For crunch, can be crushed if you wish.

How to Make The Kare Kare Dressing

If you don't want to make it from scratch I recommend getting a jar of Fila Manila and adding more peanut butter to it to make it creamier. Read on if you want to make it from scratch.

The base of it is pretty much the same as making a traditional Kare Kare sauce, but we are going to make it thicker and add a bit of acid with vinegar to eat with your salad.

Start with roasting half an onion with 6 cloves of garlic that has been drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Cook at 450F for 30 minutes until the onions and garlic are soft and a little charred.

Cool down fully and transfer to a blender and add in 1 cup of vegetable stock, 1 teaspoon of atchuete powder. Blend until everything is smooth.

Pour this mixture into a bowl and add in half a cup of smooth peanut butter and 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix well and adjust the flavor according to your taste.

You can add more peanut butter, vinegar if you wish and season with salt and pepper. If the dressing is too thick you can loosen with more olive oil.

How to Build the salad

Start with a bed of mixed greens then add the cooked eggplant, tofu, cauliflower rice, bok choy, green beans and endive. How pretty is this Kare Kare Salad?!

Drizzle with as much Kare Kare Dressing as you wish and top with roasted peanuts. Serve right away.

Storing The Salad

It is possible to keep making this Kare Kare salad for a few days (perfect for meal prep). You can make extras of each vegetable and store in individual containers. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Just build the salad again and only dress before serving.

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