Savory Oxtail in a Rich and Thick Gravy
Ingredients:
4 lbs oxtail cut and trimmed into 1-2 inch pieces
2 tomato diced
2 onion sliced thin
2 stalk celery diced
7 carrots roughly chopped
black pepper (fresh ground is best)
1/2 teaspoonhot pepper (optional)
2 tablespoon green seasoning
1 teaspoon prepared mustard (nothing fancy)
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon salt
6 cups water
3 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
5 cloves of garlic crushed
2 lime / lemon or vinegar (8 tablespoon)
2 tablespoon ketchup
* If you don’t have the green seasoning prepared. Use a combination of green onions (scallions), cilantro or shado beniand thyme. About 1 tablespoon each…chopped very fine.
Directions:
1) Start by placing the cut pieces of oxtail in a large bowl (remember to remove as much fat as you can – keep it a bit healthy) and squeeze the lime or lemon juice on it. Use vinegar if you don’t have limes or lemons. Pour some water (not the water mentioned in the recipe) in the bowl and wash each piece of oxtail. If your butcher used a band-saw to cut the pieces for you, there’s the chance that there may be some gritty stuff from the cut bones left on the meat. Rinse with cold water as need. Drain and get ready for seasoning.
2) The seasoning consist of all the ingredients mentioned above, except the oil, sugar and 6 cups of water. Mix well and allow this to marinate for at least 2 hrs in the fridge.
3) Bring the oil to a high temp in a heavy pot and add the brown sugar. Stir so the entire lot changes colour evenly and get to the perfect point to add the seasoned meat. The key is allowing the sugar get to a caramel colour, so each piece of oxtail will get browned evenly. Start adding the seasoned pieces of oxtail. Stir, reduce to medium heat and cover. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes. Then bring the heat back to high and burn off all the liquid (remove the lid). Stir during this process so the pieces of meat gets coated evenly. Add the 6 cups of water to the bowl that had the seasoned meat to pick up any remaining seasoning that was left behind. When the liquid dries up in the pot, add the 6 cups of water.
4) Bring to a boil (covered), then reduce the heat so it’s a gentle simmer. PATIENCE.. allow this to cook, stirring occasionally for about 1 3/4 hours. Then remove the lid and turn up the heat so you can achieve a nice thick gravy. Remember to turn off the heat and remove from the burner when you have a thick gravy or risk not having any of that nice rich sauce.