NOTE: this recipe is a revised version of the one I posted in March of 2010. If you still have that one bookmarked or printed out, chuck it. Trust me, this one is a marked improvement on what came before!I love me some slow-brewed oxtail stew, a hearty mainstay in the cuisine of many cultures, and my own version of it derives from the Chinese and Jamaican varieties. Loaded with beefy goodness, vertebrae that are incredibly flavorful when sucked on after cooking, corn, peas, onions and beans, this is tasty as a motherfucker, very filling and will make you drop a tree trunk-solid turd as big and heavy as your head. And this same recipe can be used for curried goat or lamb as well!
INGREDIENTS
1 box S&B Golden Curry Sauce mix (3.5 ounce pack)
Curry powder (brand is irrelevant, though I do favor Jamaican Choice or Badia)
Oxtail in inch-thick sections (2 pounds)
2 pounds chuck beef for stew
Beef broth (enough to cover the oxtail, with four inches extra)
2 large onions
2 cubes beef bullion (I favor Maggi brand)
4 smashed cloves of garlic (but if you enjoy more, go for it)
2 cans dark kidney beans (drained)
1 can lima beans (optional)
1 standard-size package of frozen peas
1 standard-size package of frozen corn
2 potatoes (diced to cook's preferred size)
3 bay leaves
Salt (optional, to taste)
Pepper
Corn starch (for thickening at the end)
Trappey’s Indi-Pep hot sauce (optional)
2 Scotch bonnet peppers (optional and absolutely not for anyone who can't handle intense spicy heat)
How to make dis shit, Mon
• Chop up your onions into decent-sized hunks, nothing fancy because it’ll all melt into the mixture eventually. Smash your garlic with the flat of a large cooking knife or cleaver. Have chopped onions and garlic at the ready to add when things come to a boil.
• Drop the oxtail and chuck beef into a big stew pot and add enough beef broth to cover it, allowing a depth of roughly four inches above the meat. Bring to a boil and add S&B Curry Sauce mix. If necessary, add salt and pepper. (Have the curry powder at the ready, in case you want to pump the curry flavor through the roof; this will mellow considerably when the stew is done and it "finds its flavor." Some curry powder brands have a certain amount of salt already in the mix, so taste the broth to see if you need to tart things up with the salt and pepper.)
• Add onions and garlic and drop heat to a simmer.
• Add beef bullion, bay leaves, beans, potatoes, peas and corn. Stir until well blended and allow to simmer, uncovered.
• Simmer until the meat is fork tender. If the concoction is not thick enough for your liking, add a handful (or two) of corn starch, stir in well and allow to simmer until it's thickened enough to make you happy. Remove from heat and if possible allow to sit in the fridge overnight to “find its flavor” — it’s good fresh off the stove, but the overnight thing really punches up the richness.
NOTE: The hot sauce is only recommended for those who want the stew to have a bit of “kick,” and Indi-Pep is suggested because it’s got a real West Indian flavor rather than a burn-your-asshole-out spice assault. If you chose to use it, lose that dash-regulating white bit of plastic that tops the open bottle and dump about half the bottle into the stew once it's begun simmering. It’s got some heat, but it won’t kill your pets or children. However, if you don't mind going down for child abuse or cruelty to animals, you can really add heat by including two perforated Scotch bonnet peppers at the start of the simmer. (The Scotch bonnets must be perforated so steam does not build up in them and cause a potentially messy pressure-generated explosion in your pot. Plus, the perforation allows the flavor to more efficiently blend into the whole mix.)
You can serve this over white rice or noodles or with crusty bread, but I go for it as a stand-alone soup or stew. And whatever you do, suck the marrow side of the bones. The broth will have been absorbed deep into the bones and sucking out that flavor is one of life's great joys. I shit you not!
An example of the completed deliciousness. NOTE: serve it in a bowl within a bowl, so you have someplace to dump the bones once you've sucked the meat off of them.
