Indonesian - Sup Buntot
@cableguy inspired me, and I went forth, seeking my first excursion into Indonesian food. I am told that this one is a very popular street food, and the variety in its preparation is as diverse as Pho is in Vietnam. There are many recipes on the web, but I wanted something as authentic as I could get. So, I did some searching on YouTube, and found a couple of Indonesians making it, but speaking no English. I still watched, and saw some ingredients being used that the textual recipes did not include. So, I tweaked the best textual recipe I could find, with the ingredients I saw used in the videos.
One ingredient I did not use (I forgot, but did find): candlenuts. They are somewhat toxic until cooked, and have a slightly bitter taste, but appear to be used mostly as a thickening agent. I decided to use what I obtained while learning to make Vietnamese Pho: the collagen from long, slow-cooked bones will thicken a broth, and give it a nice, rich mouth-feel.
Never having made this before, I did not want to risk making a huge amount of this. My research showed that there
could be a lot of overlap in the preparation of sup buntot and Pho. So I decided to let it take my normal 28 hours to make the broth base. I used half of it to make the sup buntot, and saved half to make some Pho, later. I did tweak my normal Pho broth base a bit. Normally, I boil beef bones and tendon for 12-14 hours, then remove the clean bones, and put in oxtails and beef brisket for 5 hours more simmering. For this dish, I did the bones as usual, but then added oxtails and beef neck bones (instead of the brisket).
No salt or spices are used at this stage. When the broth is ready, the products from the bones and tendon are set aside, along with the oxtails and neck bones. Then, the oil is skimmed off of the top, and set aside to cook other things in. Then, most of the spices are ground into a paste, and tempered in hot oil in a saute pan, then added to the broth after a bit of caramelization, and simmered for a good while. When the broth and spices have matured, the broth is run through a sieve, in go the vegetables, and back in go the oxtails, and simmering continues until the veggies are done. The results are served, like Pho, with a variety of garnishes, to be added as desired to customize your own bowl. Unlike Pho, sup buntot is served with a bowl of rice, to round things out.
I must say that, though I was concerned about committing to this dish, It will now take its own honored place in our regular fair. I'll continue to explore Indonesian food. There is a lot there to keep me busy for quite a while...
Here is what goes in: beef marrow bones, beef oxtails, beef neck bones, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, lemongrass, galangal, nutmeg (I used 50-50 of nutmeg and its covering, mace, for a bit more bite), cubed carrots, cubed potatoes, sea salt, palm sugar, hot white pepper, shallots, garlic, onion, and coriander. Here are the garnishments for serving time: sliced tomatoes, sliced scallions, Chinese celery leaves, wedges of fresh lime, French-fried onion slivers, and hot chili sauce (chopped Thai dragon chilies and Indonesian sweet soy sauce).
Enjoy,
Rich P