Oxtail With Rice And Peas
Whenever I’m home on the weekends I have to go and get some Jamaican food. I usually go to my local place Caribbean Cuisine.
Today, I had some Oxtail with rice and peas. I asked for some green bananas, but sadly they were out. Instead, I got a fried dumpling as well as some fried plantains and boiled carrots for my vegetable. This was all very good.
While there, a couple came in and said this was their first time at the restaurant. I heard the lady order a patty asking if she should have two. I recommend that she had the beef as opposed to the chicken and the lady behind the counter recommended that as they are eating in, she should order one and if she needed another just order another then. All sound advice. Usually when I purchase one patty, I need another.
While shopping for dinner, I saw a bunch of callaloo and bought it for dinner later this week. I also left with two beef patties. We will have a video of how to cook callaloo. I usually get some soup, but I refrained this time around.
Have you ever had oxtail?
Hre’s the recipe to make your own version.
Ingredients
Method
- Remove oxtail from packaging
- Use a sharp knife to remove excess fat from the tail. This will take a long time to do as it will be harder to remove the fat from the smaller parts of the tail.
- Wash the meat off with water and lime juice or vinegar. Let sit for a bit in the liquid you're using to wash it.
- When done, remove all the water from the meat and let sit while you prepare the seasoning.
- Chop up all the herbs and seasoning. You can use your favorite herbs as little or as much as you desire. There's never a set amount of seasoning for Jamaican food.
- Dice the bell pepper(s)
- Add all the herbs and seasoning (oxtail seasoning, meat tenderizer and soy sauce)
- Cover securely using Press 'n Seal as well as foil paper.
- Place in the refrigerator and allow to marinate overnight. If you are pressed for time, you can start cooking right away.
- Remove from refrigerator.
- Heat your pot and add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pot. You can be generous.
- Add pieces of oxtail, but first remove all the seasoning from it. You will be browning the oxtail and you do not want the seasoning to burn.
- Remove the oxtail from the pan once they are golden brown. This will be an ongoing process as they won't all brown at the same time. Be careful not to burn them. There will be lots of smoke, so turn on the stove's fan, and or open the door to let some of the smoke out.
- Start a kettle with water.
- Once the last piece is done, re-add all the other pieces to the pot and add some water from the kettle. Be careful with adding the water to the oil as it may splash.
- Boil for about 3 hours adding water as you go so it does not burn or dry out. If you have a pressure cooker, you can pressure the oxtail for about 30 minutes or so. This will speed up the cooking process.
- Once the oxtail is cooked, it's time to add the seasoning. Now you can add the seasoning to let it cook in the seasoning or you can add it once the meat is cooked, it's up to you. I like to have the seasoning cooked with the meat. In seasoning, I mean the herbs.
- Add the butter beans and the bell peppers and the scotch bonnet pepper and thyme. Ensure there's enough water to continue the cooking process and cover and allow to simmer.
- Taste to ensure it's to your taste, add whatever seasoning you think it needs to your taste. Typically, you don't have to add salt as most of the seasoning you're using will have salt in it. But if you think it needs some salt, you can add it.
