Traditional South African Oxtail Stew

A tomato based stew of oxtail, carrots and parsnips served with suet dumplings.

Ingredients

• 4 pieces of oxtail
• 1 large red onion
• 1 large carrot
• 1 large parsnip
• 4 large ripe vine tomatoes
• 1 carton of chopped tomatoes
• Squeeze of tomato paste
• 2/3 large cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp coarse sweet salt
• 6 whole black peppercorns
• 6 whole green cardamon pods
• 1 cup robust red wine (pinotage, shiraz or rioja is a good choice)
• 300 - 500 ml fresh chicken stock (made from boiling previous Sundays' chicken roast carcass)
• Chicken fat

Method

1. Braise the oxtail pieces in a large casserole dish in the chicken fat on a low heat on the stove top, browning on all sides. When done remove to a separate dish an keep warm.
2. Saute the chopped onion in the same dish until soft and crystallised.
3. Add the chopped garlic, peppercorns and cardamon as well as the cayenne pepper & salt and heat through, mixing the cayenne powder well with the fat & onions.
4. Finely slice the whole tomatoes and add to the cooking dish. Now add the meat, chopped tomatoes & paste as well as the liquids (red wine & stock) to the stew and bring to a good simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
5. Finally add the sliced carrot and parsnip (thickish wagon wheels are good) to the stew bringing it back to a simmer.
6. Now place a heavy lid on the casserole dish and move to an oven preheated to 150 ºC and cook for 2,5 hours. Meat must fall off the bone and the vegetables should be cooked through.

Dumplings

1. Mix 100g self raising flour and 50g Atora light vegetable suet with a pinch of salt and cold water in a glass bowl.
2. Water quantity is 5 tbs or enough to make a firm but pliable dough.
3. Divide the dough into 8 balls and cook on top of the simmering stew with the lid on for 20 minutes.

Note: The recipe for the dumplings is on the Atora box.