Indonesian Oxtail Soup Recipe (Sop Buntut)

Sop Buntut - Tender oxtail slices with potatoes and carrots swim in clear but rich broth. Among Indonesian soups, sop buntut (Indonesian oxtain soup) is second only to "soto" in the reputation. It's made of oxtail seasoned with spices such as cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, garlic and shallot. It's eaten with steamed rice and some toppings or condiments such as fried shallot flakes, spring onions, tomato, lime, crackers, chili sauce and or kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce).

The famous oxtail soup in Jakarta is sop buntut hotel Borobudur, but if you want to make it at home, here is the easy recipe for making soup buntut. I love to use pressure cooker to cut the cooking time. You will enjoy tasty oxtail soup under 1 hour with this recipe.

Serves 2 - 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs oxtail, cut into 1 - 2-inches pieces

6 cups water

1 ginger (1-inch piece), bruised

5 Asian shallots, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

5 whole clove

1/3 tsp ground nutmeg

1 piece cinnamon (1-inch)

2 tbsp cooking oil

2 carrot, thinly sliced

2 potatoes, cut into 8 pieces

salt and sugar to taste

Garnish:

tomato wedges

2 spring onions, chopped

2 tbsp chopped Chinese celery

fried shallot flakes (garnish)

lime wedges

acar (pickled cucumber)

emping crackers

• Put the oxtail in a pressure cooker. Add water to cover. Uncover. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil the oxtail for 5 minutes. Then dump the water and oxtail into the sink. Clean and scrap the pot from any residue. Rinse the oxtail under running water.
• Put 6 cups of fresh water, oxtail, nutmeg, clove, ginger and cinnamon in the pressure cooker. Cover and cook under high pressure for about 30 minutes or until the oxtail is tender. Lower the heat to simmer. Skim off any scum and fat.
• Heat cooking oil in the wok over high heat. Stir-fry minced garlic and shallot for about 30 seconds to 1 minute or until fragrant. Transfer the garlic and shallot mixture into the broth.
• Add carrot and potatoes into the broth. Simmer until they are tender. Put salt and a pinch of sugar . Taste and adjust the flavor if necessary. Remove from the heat.
• Ladle the oxtail with broth into the serving bowls. Add tomato wedges, fried shallot flakes, Chinese celery and spring onions. Serve it hot with steamed rice, emping crackers, pickled cucumber and hot chili sauce.