How to make Caribbean Oxtail Curry or Curried Oxtail

 

Maybe cooking oxtail may seem a bit daunting at first but have a go at this overlooked cut of meat, certainly this oxtail curry is an awesome Jamaican dish.

It's a plan ahead meal though, oxtail takes a long time to cook however you cook it, but you get the best stew with beef that just falls off the bone, so oxtail is worth it, tek yer time mon, dis is a fiery an' filling ting. 

Ingredients, Marinade

1lb Meat

1 tsp curry powder Caribbean hot
1 Tbls tomato ketchup
! Tbl spoon white wine vinegar or similar
Bunch of spring onions

Cooking

More curry powder

Onions

Garlic

Thyme

Allspice berries

Ginger fresh

Scotch Bonnet Chilli

Marinate

Trim off as much fat as you can, season with several spoons of a Caribbean curry powder, some tomato ketchup, some white wine vinegar, add chopped tomatoes, spring onions, garlic, salt and pepper, mix well and marinate for several hours or overnight.

Brown

Take out the oxtail and reserve the marinade.

I use a two part slow cooker that you can also use on the hob, so in one or a pan with a little oil really brown the oxtail as well as you can, maybe five minutes.

Simmer

Add two diced onions to the meat and fry till starting to go clear, add tablespoon of curry powder and cook for a couple of minutes then add the remaining marinade. Then add a beef stock pot and water to cover, some grated ginger (there is always ginger in Jamaican stews) sprigs of thyme,  a few allspice berries, several whole Scotch Bonnets and bring to a simmer and keep it there for an hour. Use a spoon to remove surface fat if you wish.

Leaving the chillies whole means that they impart a flavour but no real heat and the person who gets one on their plate can pop that fire.

Slow cook

Put it on low and go to work, or overnight. 

Reheat

Take the meat out and the chillies and then reduce the sauce, if you are cooking this for the first time you may mistake the gelatin from the bones for fat, as if left to cool it may look like it's set like jelly, but will soon turn back to sauce Add the oxtail back in and reheat.

Serve with rice.

Soup

I had some meat left over and some left over rice, so I took the meat off the remaining bone, chucked in the rice and next day had for lunch the best curried beef and rice soup ever.