This was a dish my Gran would make on special occasions. It was her way of showing us her love. It’s a slow intentional dish, something you make with your heart for your fam. I made it recently for a dear friend of mine who was celebrating her birthday in the midst of a pandemic and on the cusp of a social revolution. I knew she loved oxtail, and I also knew she’d been tirelessly working for the Black Lives Matter movement. So I wanted to make her something that would give her a moment of reprieve and hopefully a bit of rejuvenation. We ate it on the beach with fufu and some bubbles, watched the sunset and then were chased off the beach by some terrifyingly confident beach raccoons.
*This recipe is a traditional South African version, but if you prefer a Ghanian or West African style stew, go to your local African grocer and find a can of Palm Nut cream to add to it.
*I usually get my Palm Nut cream from a fantastic Ghanian restaurant in Surrey, called The Taste of Africa. If you live in Vancouver, it's definitely worth taking a trip to get some of their take-out.
TAKES: 2 - 4 hours
MAKES: 8 - 10 servings
INGREDIENTS
500 grams of oxtails (you could also sub the oxtail for beef shank or beef short ribs on the bone)
5-6 slices of bacon, diced
½ cup of flour
A pinch of paprika, cumin, salt, pepper and coriander
4 cups of beef stock
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 garlic cloves
2 cups of wine (I used white but red also works)
½ butter
A couple of glugs of olive oil
*serve it with fufu, Mielie pap, rice, or mash potatoes
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour your cup of flour onto a plate and add a pinch of salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and coriander.
Wipe the oxtails dry with a paper towel and dip each oxtail into the flour mixture so all sides of the oxtail are coated in flour. Set aside.
In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat up your butter and olive oil and then fry up the bacon on medium-high heat. Once the bacon is brown, remove it from the pot and set aside.
Next, add your oxtail to the pot. Fry until each side of the oxtail is a deep brown. This is how you seal in all the flavour. Once they are browned, remove them from the pot and set aside.
Add the garlic, onions, and carrots into the pot and sauté until they are soft.
Deglaze with wine, add the oxtail and bacon back in and then pour in the stock, tomatoes, and bay leaf. I will also add in a few full peppercorns and chilli pepper if I want some heat.
Bring all of this to a slow boil, put on a lid and then let this simmer on low for 2-3 hours. I’d check it every 30 min to see how it’s all moving. You want the meat to fall off the bone and all the veg be completely soft.
*I also prefer when the liquid is all the same consistency, so 30 min before serving I remove all the meat from the pot and set it aside. I then blend the liquid with an emulsion blender until it's smooth. Then I just pop the oxtail back in and serve it hot with fufu or rice.
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