Filipino kare-kare has always stood out in the curry universe for skipping bold spices and coconut milk. Instead, it uses peanut butter and toasted rice to build a gravy that’s thick, rich, and stew-like. It shares this quality with Japanese curry, or kare—another curry outlier for being sweet and spice-shy. So we brought them together in one dish.
The result? Beefy burger steaks draped with a nutty kare-curry sauce, served with steamed rice and shredded cabbage. Knorr Professional Beef Broth Cubes gives the sauce meatiness; a touch of Knorr Liquid Seasoning ties it all up with instant umami. It’s comforting and familiar, also deliciously surprising—is it kare-kare or kare-curry?—in the best way possible.
Our inspiration for Burger Steak Kare-Kare draws from Unilever Food Solutions’ Future Menus 2025, which highlights Borderless Cuisine as one of the key food trends to watch out for. By blending Filipino and Japanese curry traditions, we’re reimagining traditional flavors while finding common ground.
What is Future Menus?
Future Menus explores the future of food by identifying key trends for the year ahead. Published annually by Unilever Food Solutions (UFS), the report brings together insights from both global and regional chefs—including representatives from the Philippines.
Future Menus aims to equip chefs and food service operators with the inspiration and tools to keep creating modern, inspiring recipes to help grow their businesses.
This year, the Pepper team flew to Thailand for the official launch of Future Menus 2025. Here are the four food trends to keep an eye out for:
- Street Food Couture. Elevate street food by combining its fun and flavor with premium ingredients and culinary finesse.
- Borderless Cuisine. Blend different food traditions to create border-blurring dishes that still stay true to their roots.
- Culinary Roots. Bring heritage to the forefront by spotlighting regional flavors and forgotten techniques.
- Diner-Designed. Today’s diners help shape the meal, turning food into a personalized, interactive experience.
As each of these four food trends were unveiled, the UFS team brought them to life with dishes for everyone to try. Local chocolatier CMV Txocolat—who made last year’s sinigang white chocolate bar we’re still thinking about—returned with sisig chocolate pralines.
For Borderless Cuisine, beef pares tacos packaged Filipino comfort food in a Mexican format. Culinary Roots gave us a tour of our Asian neighbors’ flavors, from tom yum and nasi lemak to lesser-known Sichuan suancai yu (or Chinese sauerkraut fish—like a tingly, tangy, funky fish sinigang).
Did you know that the Future Menus report doubles as a cookbook? It’s packed with bold, Filipino-forward recipes developed by Unilever Food Solutions chefs. And watch out for a Future Menus experience near you—UFS is hitting up Bacolod, Davao, Cebu, and more key cities across the Philippines this year.
Download your free copy of the Future Menus 2025 Trend Report here.
Ingredients
Knorr Professional Products
- Knorr Professional Beef Broth Cubes Pack (600g)
- Knorr Professional Liquid Seasoning (2L)
Kare-Kare Sauce
- ½ cup raw unshelled peanuts
- ¼ cup uncooked white rice
- ½ cup minced onions
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp bagoong guisado
- 3 cups water
- 1 Knorr Professional Beef Broth Cube
- ½ tbsp curry powder
- Knorr Professional Liquid Seasoning, to taste
Burger Steaks
- 500g ground beef
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp salt
- ½ tbsp garlic powder
- ½ tbsp pepper
For Serving
- steamed white rice
- shredded cabbage
- chopped peanuts
- bagoong guisado
Toast peanuts & rice: Add peanuts to a dry pan over medium heat. Cook peanuts until fragrant and nicely browned, stirring or shaking the pan occasionally to toast evenly, about 5–7 minutes. The peanuts are ready when golden brown. For a smokier taste, toast the peanuts further, until dark brown and almost charred in some spots. Remove peanuts from heat and set aside until cool enough to handle.
Toast uncooked white rice the same way: in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring or shaking the pan until the grains are golden and aromatic. Remove rice from heat and set aside to cool.
Make peanut butter: Transfer cooled toasted peanuts to the bowl of a food processor. Blitz to break peanuts into small crumbs. Keep running the processor—the peanuts will start to clump together and stick to the walls of the processor, but keep going! Eventually it will loosen up and turn soft and creamy. Scrape down the sides and continue processing until you have chunky peanut butter. Transfer to a bowl and set aside until ready to use.
Make toasted rice flour: Transfer toasted rice grains to the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until you get a fine powder. Transfer to a bowl and set aside until ready to use.
Make kare-kare sauce: Heat 2 tbsp neutral oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook until aromatics are soft and fragrant, 3–5 minutes. Add bagoong and cook until darkened and less pungent. Add peanut butter and stir to combine. Add water and Knorr Beef Cube. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a simmer. Add curry powder and season to taste with Knorr Liquid Seasoning.
To finish, stir in toasted rice flour to thicken the sauce to your desired consistency. The sauce will thicken over time—thin it out with water as necessary. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Prepare burger mix: Combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, egg, salt, garlic powder, and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.
Form patties: Divide mixture into 3 parts. Roll each portion into balls, making sure to pack the meat firmly. Working with a portion at a time, firmly toss the meat back and forth between your hands, forming a fat patty in the process, about 1 minute. Use your thumb to press down the center of the patty, forming a sloping indentation. This prevents your burger steak from puffing up during cooking. Repeat until you have 3 burger patties.
Cook burger steaks: Heat 2 tbsp neutral oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke. Add burger patties, leaving some space between each one, to the pan. Sear until the undersides have formed a deep brown crust, about 2–3 minutes. Flip to sear the second side, another 2–3 minutes.
Pour about ½ cup of water into the pan, cover, and steam burger steaks until fully cooked, about 10 minutes. Check for doneness by making a small incision at the center of the steak. They’re ready when the juices run clear.
Serve: Divide burger patties between plates with steamed rice and shredded cabbage. Pour kare-kare sauce on top of the patties. Garnish sauce with crushed peanuts. Add a dollop of bagoong guisado on the side. Serve hot.
