Friday 16 May 2014

Sop Buntut (Indonesian Oxtail Soup)


Sop Buntut. Buntut????

mmmpghrrhhh......mmmpghrrhh....mmmpghrhh...mmmpghrhh..ghee..hee..hee..hee...   That was me suppressing the giggles but failing when I saw this item on the menu at The Waterlily. It got worse when my partner asked me "hamik si sop buntut?" (What is Sop Buntut?) 



I understand the word "buntut" as "backside" as in the two bumps below your backbone (buttocks). As in the anatomical part of the body that JLo and Kim Kardashian are famous for. And as in PH slipped and fell on her "buntut". Which actually did happen. Twice at the walkway outside the shop houses near my office.



The first time was right outside the Magnum 4-D nombor ekor shop (no, I wasn't going to buy number) and the second time outside the coffee shop, right in front of the wanton mee stall. When you fall on your bum in a public place, it is obviously embarrassing. Your reaction would be to quickly get up and act cool. Which was was I did. Except that I sprung up and bolted. You have never seen me so agile and athletic-like. I have always wanted to do the 100 metre sprint anyway. The advantage of having an ample "buntut" is that it acts as a shock absorber and cushions your bum. I pity you skinny girls, you don't have built-in air bags like me.



Anyway, back to the soup. Sop Buntut is Indonesian Oxtail Soup. Here we call it Sup Ekor. So you can imagine my mirth when I see a Sop Buntut on the menu. I love oxtail soup be it Western or Asian style. Which was why after having the giggles I ordered the soup. The Sop Buntut I had at The Waterlily was very good. It was thick, hearty and very tasty. Which led to my search for a Sop Buntut recipe. Although there are similarities between Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia, I had problems with the terminology and could not fully understand the text. Luckily I found the recipe in English.



Although the soup was good, it was not the same as the one I had at Waterlily. I believe that if I had added more onions to the soup, I would have come close. I guess there are many variations of the soup and I can always adjust according to my taste. This soup will definitely be repeated!










Sop Buntut (Indonesian Oxtail Soup)
Recipe source : Daily Cooking Quest
(My notes and modifications in red)

Ingredients :
- 1 kg oxtail
- 2.5 litre water
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 cloves
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 250g carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch rounds
- some celery, thinly sliced (my addition)
- 250g potatoes, peeled and cut into 8 wedges per potato (I substituted with daikon cut into cubes)
-1 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp sugar (I omitted)
- 1 tsp ground white pepper

Grind the following into spice paste :
- 10 shallots
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1/2 onion  (In future I will add more onions)

Garnish and accompaniments
- 1 tomato, cut into small slices (I omitted)
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
- 2 Chinese celery, thinly sliced
- 1 lime, cut into wedges (I omitted)
- Deep fried shallots

Chili Sauce (mix the following)(I omitted)
- 4 tbsp sweet soya sauce
- 4 Thai chilies, seeded and thinly sliced

Method :
1. Boil oxtail and water in a pot. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until oxtails are cooked and tender. Remove oxtail from the stock and set aside. Strain the stock to get clear broth. Return the broth and oxtails back to the pot.
(I boiled the oxtail for about 10 minutes in another pot of water to clean it and remove blood and impurities. I rinsed the oxtails and put them into another pot and added 2 litres. I brought the water to a boil and turned down the heat to simmer).
2. In a frying pan, heat oil and saute spice paste, cinnamon stick, cloves and nutmeg until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add this to the pot of oxtails.
3. Bring the oxtail and broth back to a boil. Add carrot and potatoes and season with salt, sugar and ground white pepper. Reduce heat and cook until carrot and potatoes are cooked and tender, but still quite firm, about 20 minutes. Adjust salt and sugar as needed.
4. Turn off the heat. Serve the soup with slices of tomatoes, scallion, and Chinese celery. Sprinkle the soup with some deep fried shallots. The soup is best eaten still piping hot with a bowl of steamed white rice accompanied with the chili sauce and a squeeze of lime juice.


33 comments:

  1. Hahahahahahahahahaha...

    Hadoi la Phong Hong, tak payahlah you highlight the name... hihihihi

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    1. heh..heh..heh..tu lah pasal...tergelak....ada ke patut dipanggilnya buntut? hee...hee...hee....

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  2. This sop buntut must be very flavourful with nutmeg and cinnamon. Looks delicious!

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    1. Hi Ann! It is a very flavorful soup and I love it to bits!

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  3. I would really love to have this now. Salivating....loves oxtail. Delicious

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    1. Hi Mel! Then you should cook this soup. Quite easy and very worthwhile.

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  4. PH, hope your "cushion airbags" are fine LOL
    Buntut in Indonesian is tail
    Being an Indonesian myself, I'm not a fan of this famous soup, surprisingly.
    But yours is so eye appetizing to me, you know - those types that makes you want to lick the screen LOL

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    1. hah..hah...Alice, my airbags are still intact! I didn't know about the terminology hence I found it funny :D

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  5. Adoi ... ha ha "shock absorber ... cushion bum ..' I have never tasted oxtail soup. Guess the ingredients with spice paste taste delicious for this soup ^-^.

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    1. Hi Karen! I suppose you don't eat beef? I love this soup. I wonder if this is diet food and will deflate my airbags hah...hah...

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    2. Ha ha LOL airbags ... I eat beef ... stir-fry with veg, beef hor fun/noodle, burger or steak etc. But I don't know why my imagination will go while on some food :(

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  6. Hi Phong Hong
    "Hamik ...si sop buntut"!! You make me laugh!!! Kakaka! I was expecting your reply to be "mmm si lu eh"!!! Hahaha!
    Yeah, I pity the skinny girls (actually envy them more like it!) who does not have "built-in air bags" like we do! You are funny! You make me smile with this post!
    Your soup looks delicious, maybe the one served at the restaurant has a secret ingredient, a touch of msg in it, that is why it is a little tastier!
    Hope you have a delicious weekend!

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    1. hahahaha!!! I still find the word buntut funny :D

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  7. Not ekor kah? Buntut ayam is very popular - lots at the Malay BBQ stalls...but no, thank you. I don't touch that. :D

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  8. ha......ha......ha........as usual, once more your post cheered me up. Thanks!
    Both you and your hubby are cute.
    Sounds like you are "Hokkien Lang"? Then we will be "Ka Ki Lang". So I would like to answer him : Sop Buntut tuk si gu bui tng"
    Since Shaun also likes this Indonesian Oxtail Soup very much, I will definitely give it a try. Thanks.

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    1. hahaha...gu bui tng :D Yes, Aunty Young, I am Hokkien and so is my partner. But he doesn't eat beef so the soup is all for me. Do try the soup and I hope that Shaun likes it :)

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  9. I had a good laugh, thanks to you :))

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  10. I'm so tickled ..... you brighten up my day!

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    1. Thanks, Cheah! Me and my airbags :D

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  11. hahaha!! sup buntut, sop bontot!! nice one.. oxtail soup that is, and something like our sup tulang ke?? hmmm, the soup looks nice from the photo, though i don't particularly like bontot, hahaha.. will love that carrot and celery, i think they must have absorbed all the essence and must be very flavorful.. and oh, i also like the browned shallots used for garnishing but please remove the scallion and chinese celery for me please, geez!!

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    1. Hi SK! Yes, this is like sup tulang. If I am not mistaken, sup tulang has more spice. I say, you don't like scallions and Chinese celery! I must have those in my soup :)

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  12. I can relate to that story about falling, spring up and run lol! I have been to the Waterlily (the one near Tropicana) and love this soup too…simply delicious!

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    1. Hi Jeannie! That was the one I went to. I love the food there.

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  13. Slurp! Must be so flavourful!

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    1. It is, Mich! I have this as a main meal by itself.

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  14. Elo dearie.. Only can reply today, coz I was on sick leave last Friday.. I could tuk-tuk from the phone if I'd wanted, but gonna be hard, coz sure will tuk-tuk quite long, and not just 1 or 2 sentences like on most of other blogs I hop to..

    Talking about falling, I actually kena that about last week.. I went to Secret Recipe @ Oasis, and fell in front of the entrance.. I pretended to be cool and quickly got up, but actually, felt very malu already.. People were looking, they weren't laughing, but I know they sure laugh la in the heart, kan?

    Actually I'm also wondering, where did this "buntut" thing come from.. Direct translation means Backside Soup, that's the polite version.. Errr, rude version? A**h**e Soup? Some places call it Sup Ekor, I think sounds better hor..

    Oxtail soup is my hubby's favourite soup.. He will order this if we eat in mamak.. Some mamak very famous for their Sup Ekor, very "heong".. In western restaurants also he will order oxtail soup - without fail.. Then during our grocery shopping, you guessed it, we will stock up on our favourite Campbell cream of oxtail.. On days we don't feel like cooking or dunno what to cook, can just boil spaghetti and chuck in a can of cream of oxtail, yep, as simple as that..

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    1. Morning, Louiz! Oh dear, fall down ah? Usually when I see someone fall down, I don't think it is funny. One time, there was this big sized lady on the mini bus and when she wanted to get down, the bus jerked and she fell backwards. Totally lying flat on her back but surprisingly she boing back up so fast and quickly left. Poor lady. But no one laughed of course.

      Eh, got cream of oxtail? I have never seen that. Only mushroom and tomato. Maybe I should check out Cold Storage and see if they have.

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    2. Yep, go check out the Campbell cream soup section.. I think there are other brands besides Campbell.. But well, Campbell is the common one, who doesn't know about Campbell right? Yep, I stock up on 4 types of canned soup all-time: clam chowder, mushroom, tomato (to make spaghetti sauce base) and oxtail of course!!

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  15. Phong Hong, I also got "airbags" so can join you, hahaha! I don't cook oxtail but mother-in-law does. She likes to do a stewed. Today I only come to have a good laugh of the story you shared with us.

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    1. Jessie, your airbags not big enough la...I want to try oxtail stew too. I just love beef and the tail hee...hee..

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