During those cold and dark nights nothing warms you up like a nice bowl of hot soup! I have always heard yummy things about Oxtail but just recently got a chance to try it about a year ago at an Indonesian Restaurant. They had garlic fried oxtail with soup and once I tried it was all over from there on! I was so hooked!
Last night I attempted to make Oxtail soup for the first time since I was home and had a lot of time on my hands. The recipe comes from a mix match of online recipes that my bf looked up and kind of just made up his own from the different varieties.
I was very pleased with the end results, the oxtail was super buttery and was practically falling off the bone with the slightest touch. The broth was heavenly, but then again nothing can ever compare to an home made broth. Especially one that's been stewing for 6 hours!
Recipe from the BF:
Serves: 2-3 people at most
1.5 lbs oxtail
3-4 carrots (ones we got are pretty small) cut into chunks
half an onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery
3-4 leeks (slice both the white and green part and keep the two seperate)
1.5 tsp white pepper
1/2 nutmeg (there is a half in there already, you dont need to grind, just leave it whole)
5 cloves
salt
*potatoes (boiled seperate if you feel so inclined)
Extra Step - Not 100% necessary but if you want whole oxtail chunks like they do at Simpang you have to brown the sides in a skillet before boiling it.
1. Combine water, oxtail, cloves, nutmeg, pepper and bring to boil skimming foam off the top as it comes to a boil
2. Simmer, covered, for about 2.5 hours (I usually set the stove dial to just a bit below 3 but it varies, just make sure its not a full rolling boil or else the water will evaporate too quickly)
3. Add carrots, onion, celery, white part of leek. Simmer for another 1.5-2 hours.
4. Fish out celery stalks and nutmeg chunk if you can get at it.
5. Add half of green onion towards very end
6. garnish with fresh green onion and serve
I pretty much followed the recipe he sent me step by step. I didn't brown the oxtails before putting in the pot though, but I can see how that would work in keeping the meat all together better.
I didn't add any potatoes to my soup but my bf said it tasted good with it but was very filling. The broth itself is pretty fatty so if you are watching your weight a trick to get rid of the fat is to refrigerate the soup over night. The fat will all rise to the top making it easy for you to skim it all off!
