Braised Oxtail

Once upon a time, we had a favorite restaurant called Northbay. It was a Chinese place but they made both traditional and non-traditional Chinese food so good.  My former co-workers and I used to frequent the place. It was our "overtime hangout" (we would always go there for dinner when we work overtime) because they closed late.

Everything there was so good, we probably tried their entire menu selection. So when they closed their doors some years back, we were so sad. We heard they opened a place in San Francisco but until now, we have yet to find them. Until now, we haven't found a place like them. And until now, we still remember their special dishes and how good they were.

One of our favorites was the Braised Oxtail in Red Wine sauce. They served the dish in a clay pot. It usually took a long time to cook, but we would wait for it anyway.  This was one of the dishes I clearly remember, and one that I miss the most.

Today, I saw that I had oxtail in the freezer. I usually get some and make them into a soup. But today was a very warm day, I didn't feel like making soup. I immediately remembered the oxtail dish at Northbay and thought it was time to give it a try. I remembered it tasted a bit like "Humba" (pork stew) and a bit like "Adobo", but it definitely had the taste of red wine. The taste of ginger was pretty prominent in the dish, and I thought maybe lemongrass would give it more aroma. So to make this dish, I had to combine the ingredients of Humba and Adobo and add the ingredients that I know should be there.

So here's the recipe that I came up with. I have to save this somewhere because I am definitely making this again. This was a huge success and I think I made the husband very happy.

You'll need:
About 3 lbs of oxtail
4 cups water
4 tbsp. soy sauce
1 cube beef bouillon
freshly ground pepper
ginger
2 tbsp vegetable oil
garlic (1 whole bulb), peeled and chopped into big pieces
yellow onion (1 whole bulb), chopped into big pieces
1 stalk lemongrass (tanglad), chopped into 4-inch pieces
green onions, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 large carrot, cubed
2/3 cup red wine
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2-3 tbsp refined or brown sugar

In a pressure cooker, bring the oxtail to a boil with 4 cups of water, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, sliced ginger, beef bouillon and freshly ground pepper (sorry, I don't measure pepper--just put as much as you want). Pressure-cook until the oxtail is fall-off-the-bone tender, about 20 minutes. Set aside.

To make the sauce, heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Cook the garlic, onions and lemongrass until golden brown. Add the carrots. Add soy sauce, red wine and 1 cup of the beef broth from the pressure cooker and simmer until reduced by nearly half. Add the cooked oxtail to the sauce and continue to simmer. Add oyster sauce and sugar. You may add more sugar until you achieve desired sweetness. Add the green onions last.

The fat from the oxtail will usually make the sauce thicker, but if it doesn't, add a little bit of corn starch dissolved in water until you achieve desired thickness of the sauce.

Discard the lemongrass before serving. By that time, it would have served its purpose.

Finally, serve with rice and enjoy dinner with people you love! :-)