According to the Lunar Calendar, it's officially winter now! To me, winter means SOUP! I grew up in a big soup culture. I still remember as a young girl, that one of our guests pointed out how interesting it was my sister and I asked what soup my mom had made, as soon as we got back from school. We didn't notice how deeply imprinted was our soup culture.
My dad’s family came from a city called Fuzhou in Fujian province, China. People from that area love soup! It's common for some families to make more than one kind of soup for every meal. Therefore, every time when we went to our grandparent's house, we were always spoiled with amazing soups!
My mom apparently adopted that soup thing from my dad! Her soups always started with homemade bone broth, slow simmered for eight hours so that the whole house smelled like....like...no matter what happens,it’s going to be a good day! Then, layering on the subtle flavors and fragrances as she added the other ingredients...oh goodness, her soups always bring me comfort, and I hope my kids will feel the same!
Here's one of my husband's favorites - Oxtail soup! Oxtail has the perfect balance of tender meat, bone, and fat, and makes a hearty, perfect-for-Winter soup. After 3 hours of cooking, the meat is so tender and fall of the bone easily. I hope you’ll love it as much as my chubby hubby does!
Ingredients:
Oxtail x 6
Vine Riped Tomato x 3
Onion (Diced) x 1
Carrots (Chop into big chunk) x 2
Yukon Potato (Chop into big chunk) x 3-4
Water x 2400 ml
Chinese Rice Wine x 1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Oil for sauté
Recipe:
1. Blanch oxtails and rinse in cold water.
2. While blanching oxtails, chop onion and tomatoes into chunks.
3. Heat up a dutch oven, add 1 tbsp oil, then add in onion and tomatoes. Sprinkle about 1 tsp of salt on top. Sauté for about 1 minute.
4. Add in blanched oxtails followed with 2400ml of water. Season with 4 tsp of salt. Bring to boil, cover, and simmer for 1.5 hours.
5. After 1 hr 15 mins, peel and chop carrots and potatoes into big chunks.
6. Heat up 1tbsp oil in a wok, add in chopped carrots and potatoes, season with 1 tsp of salt, sauté for about 1 minute to release all the good flavor before adding into the soup.
7. Add the carrots and potatoes into the dutch oven, season with another 2 tsp of salt, then bring to boil, cover and simmer for another 1.5 hours.
8. After 1.5 hours, skim the oil on top of the soup.
9. Final taste and make adjustment if more salt or pepper are needed.
10. Once adjusting the taste to your desire, turn the heat UP, and let it boil vigorously, then add in 1/4 rice wine, let it continue to boil for another 1-2 minutes, and the VOILA!!! DONE!!!
11. Enjoy it!!!
