Bali, one of the indonesian islands and a paradise which i call a second home. This is also where I first tried this legendary and authentic indonesian Sop Buntut. I found a popular warung, which is what indonesians call a small restaurant, where i ate it very often. If you really want to be sure you won’t miss it there, you must go to the warung before 11am because, even though it’s not on the menu, there are a lot of people who ask for this dish so it dissapears quickly.  When I did miss it, i was extremely sad. I’m addicted to lots of food and if I don’t get what i want, I always get upset, haha!

You might think it’s not anything special, just broth with beef and vegetable like you can get anywhere; However, I think the beef oxtail which is such a tender and rich meat combined with untraditional spices like cinnamon and cloves is what makes this soup so special. I would have never thought that i would eat soup with the same spices we use for baking cakes or sweets.

So here we go – how to make a soup I love, Buntut:

1 kg of oxtail, chopped into large chunks
2 liters of water
3 potatoes
4 large carrots
2 slices of ginger
1 red tomatoes, chopped (coarse)

1 teaspoon ground pepper corn
1 whole nutmeg, crushed
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
5 pieces of cloves
sugar, to taste
salt to taste

fried onions for topping
lime
chilli
rice

First place the ginger slices and oxtail chunks into a large pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce it to medium heat and leave it for about 5 minutes. Remove oxtails and discard the cooking water and ginger.

Put oxtail back to your pot, add 2 liters of water and bring it to a boil. Fry all the spices until fragrant and add to the soup. Cook for about an hour or so until the meat is tender.

Once the oxtail is tender, add the potatoes and carrotas to the soup and season with salt and sugar. Allow to cook until vegetables are tender. The oxtail should be so soft and tender so that the meat comes easily off the bone.

Serve hot with steamed rice. Add as much chilli and lime as you’d like and enjoy! Selamat makan!