Indonesian Oxtail Soup

Like most of the current celebrated recipes in the East Asia & Pacific region, it was born out of a necessity to make the most use of all and whatever food resources one had in the kitchen to feed the entire family.  As recent as the 2nd world war, the usual Indonesian family consisted of about 6 children. Thus, the level of necessity to feed the entire family under limited economic means resulted in creativity.  This is well reflected in the creativity of our beef dishes. 

If a family was to decide to slaughter their cow then all, i.e. brains, tail and skin, would be processed in such a way that it would turn into something tasty and edible. Hence the birth of the Oxtail Soup.  It is such a loved and sought out dish that any respectable Indonesian Restaurant was obligated to place in their menu; you wouldn't even dare to think of excluding it.

At home, this is how I cook it.  Bear in mind that this is a recipe that starts at least 6 hours before it is actually eaten. 

Ingredients:

2 local oxtail OR 1.5 kg of imported oxtail {imported oxtail are usually bigger and have more fat} cut in the joint areas or about 2 cm each

5 gr (1 teaspoon) of freshly grated nutmeg

5 cloves

8 shallots, peeled but left whole

3 garlic, crushed with coarse sea salt

3 spring onions, cut into 3 {include green leaves}

3 celery, cut into 3 {include green leaves}

1 tomato

1 carrot, peeled cut into 3

1 potato, peeled cut into 4

2 belimbing wuluh, cut into 2 {member of the starfruit family, small, green & tart - it dissolves trans fat :)}

80 ml cooking oil

30 gr (2 tablespoon) sugar

salt & pepper to taste

Additional ingredients to add after the soup is cooked:

2 spring onions, cut into 1 cm pieces {include green leaves}

3 tomatos, cut into 16 pieces

3 potatoes, peeled and cut into 16 pieces

2 carrots, peeled, halved and cut into 1/2 cm pieces

Pairing Condiments:

Candlenut crackers

golden crisp fried shallots

local green lemon {cut into 4}

sweet Indonesian black soya sauce {kecap manis}

Birdseye chili sauce {steam red Birdseye chili, pound with lemon, shallots, salt & sugar to taste}

Steamed jasmine pandan rice

Method:

1. In a stock pan {one with a lid}, heat oil, then stir fry shallots, garlic, spring onion, celery, tomato, carrot, potato and belimbing wuluh until very fragrant {about 2 minutess}. 

2. Add sugar to this stir fry and cook for another minuet.

3. Add 2.5 L of drinking water, add nutmeg and clove, place the lid, and let this cook to a rolling boil.

4. Uncover, lower heat, then put in the oxtail in. Cook uncovered under low heat for about 2 hours or until meat is tender.

5. Take the oxtail meat out, place in a clean glass bowl, let it cool and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate.

6. Drain the soup through a stock sieve 2x. Use a white cheese cloth if possible to catch all the impurities from the beef, as this can make the stock go sour. Drain clear soup stock into a new clean pan with lid and discard all the other ingredients. Place the soup stock into the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

7. After two hours, all the fat would of harden and surfaced. Skim the fat and discard.

8. Reheat the clear soup stock, add the additional ingredients, let cook for 5 minutes.

9. Add the oxtail meat and cook for another 10 minutes.

After this, the soup is ready to serve.

To Serve:

Usually, we would have the white fluffy rice already plated.  Then the ladled soup will be in a separate bowl.  Once that is done, we would add a squirt of the green lemon, soya sauce and chili sauce to the soup according to our taste.  The candlenut crackers can be crushed and scattered on the soup with the crisp fried shallots or placed on the side of the rice plate.