This is a favourite quick meal. It is very tasty and yet doesn’t involve a lot of effort. We came to love oxtail especially after our visits to Indonesia, where grilled or fried oxtail is a specialty. Grilled oxtail and Borshch soup (i’m calling it Borshch soup in the sense of being inspired by it) makes a great combo because the broth you get from cooking the oxtail is perfect for making the soup. Plus, you will have meat complemented with vegetables this way, a nutritious meal.
These are the steps: place the oxtail in a pressure cooker, fill with enough water to cover the oxtail, sprinkle a generous amount of salt, and apply spices such as cloves, star anise, nutmeg (these three are recommended), cinnamon and pepper. The oxtail needs to be cooked in a pressure cooker for at least 40 minutes at the highest pressure setting to soften the meat. When done, place the oxtail onto an oven rack ready for grilling or broiling later. Pour the broth into a bowl. There will be a thick layer of oil floating on top and you need to scoop it out, as much as you can.
While the cooking of the oxtail is underway, you can prepare the ingredients for the Borshch soup. Slice onions, and dice tomatoes, cabbage and potatoes. Caramelize the onions in a pot, add the tomatoes and cook it for a while before adding water, cabbage and potatoes. Add the broth from cooking the oxtail as well and boil until the cabbage is soft. If you prefer an even more sourish taste, you may add tomato paste. Salt to taste.
Whenever you are ready to serve, grill/broil the oxtail. In my oven, eight minutes is about right to get some charring.
I used the frozen oxtail i bought on Qoo10 and it tastes very good.
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