Yummy, Chunky, Day-Old Oxtail Stew

Before I started this food blog, I knew that it would push me to try to cook new things. It would make me more adventurous in the kitchen because otherwise… what the hell would be there to post about? LOL.

And this is really what I wanted. My wonderful mom (the original homecooking diva!) once told me that I cook well but that I should STOP repeating my dishes all the time. She said that once I get compliments on a dish, I tend to cook it over and over and over…

So today’s dish is really a bit out of my ‘kitchen comfort zone’ not because of the procedures involved but because of the main ingredient – oxtail.

Mom cooks oxtail stew sooo well that I simply don’t make it myself. (Bummer then that she lives thousands of miles away!) Also, after ordering a less than desirable ‘Rabo de Toro’ (oxtail stew) during a trip to Spain, I seem to have lost appetite for anything oxtail that was not cooked in my mother’s kitchen.

HOWEVER, during our last shopping trip at Makro, these beautiful vacuum pack of 6 oxtails ‘called to me’ and I thought well I’ve got to try it at least once on my own!

I am so glad I did because the result was amazing!

Hubby – not used to eating meat with bones still attached :) – dug in with gusto and declared the dish delicious and thus, repeatable. Hurray!

Like all great stews this one is best consumed the day after.

Ingredients:

1.4 kg oxtail
3 tbsp flour
10 cloves
5 tbsp dark soy sauce
150 ml dry, red wine
1 big onion (halved)
2 bay leaves
6 large carrots (cut into about 3 pieces each)
7 small/baby potatoes

Procedure:

1. Put the flour on a plate and season it with salt and pepper.
2. Dredge the oxtail pieces with the seasoned flour.



3. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven and sear the oxtail. Set aside.
4. Place the oxtail in a pressure cooker and pour hot water over it until it just about covers the meat.

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can use Dutch oven but of course cooking time will be longer.

5. Once the water starts to boil, put in the onion, cloves, dark soy sauce, red wine and half the carrots.
6. Seal the pressure cooker and cook for an hour. (Using the Dutch oven, simmer the stew for 2.5 to 3 hours.)
7. After an hour, turn off the stove and leave the pressure cooker sealed until the steam inside has dissipated. (NEVER open a just-turned-off pressure cooker!)
8. After the pressure has been released, slowly open the pressure cooker and leave on the stove top overnight.
9. The next day, put the oxtail in a big pot and strain the stew / sauce to get rid of the cloves and the chunks of onion and carrots.
10. Add the bay leaves, the rest of the carrots and potatoes and bring the stew to a boil.
11. Lower the fire and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Season to taste.



I served this yummy, chunky oxtail stew with steaming white rice and vinegared cucumber. DELISH!

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