Sop Buntut: Indonesian Oxtail Soup
Sop Buntut is an Indonesian clear oxtail soup that offers flavour and delicacy. It is made with simple ingredients, and its taste is focused on savoury oxtail.
Sop Buntut
Sop Buntut is an Indonesian clear oxtail soup that offers flavour and delicacy. It is made with simple ingredients, and its taste is focused on savoury oxtail.
So the soup itself has a light and runny texture. And it looks cloudy too. Yet, it is packed with the goodness of the oxtail broth.
And through slow cooking the oxtail with whole spices and herbs, you get a flavoursome soup with melt-in-the-mouth tender meat from the oxtail.
If you want to get more flavourful oxtail pieces, you can even deep-fry them once you finish cooking them in the broth. This is by way of people making Sop Buntut Goreng which literally means fried oxtail soup.
However, this recipe I’m sharing shows how to make the basic soup without deep-frying the oxtail in the end.
How do you eat oxtail soup?
You eat this heartwarmingly delicious Sop Buntut with hot plain white rice. Because rice is the main staple in Indonesia. Naturally, most main dishes will be enjoyed with rice.
So you will get the filling carb from the rice grain and the protein from the oxtail soup. In short, your nutrition intake for the day is sorted.
And if I can recommend, for those who love chillies and spices, try to put a spoon or two in your soup. It’s just delicious.
What you need to make a flavoursome Sop Buntut
In total, you only need 10 ingredients, i.e. the oxtail, onion, ginger, garlic, nutmeg, ground white pepper, cloves, spring onions, tomatoes and salt. Well, maybe 11 items if I have to include water in the list.
Optionally, you can add crispy fried shallots when serving. It gives a lovely extra fragrance and flavour to the soup.
Top tips on making the best Sop Buntut
- Clear the oxtail properly from grizzle and excessive fat. Also, wash and rinse it until the water runs clear without traces of blood.
- Rinse the oxtail after the first boiling to ensure you clean the impurities from it.
- To save time, use the hot boiling water from the kettle.
- Boil and simmer the spices for about 5 minutes to let the water infuse the spice aroma and flavour before adding the oxtail into it.
- Once the water reboils after adding the oxtail, turn the heat to the lowest and let the soup slowly cook and simmer.
- You can’t overcook the oxtail soup. In fact, the longer you cook the soup, the better flavour you get from the oxtail. You can see it from the colour of the soup. The cloudier it is, the more gelatinised the soup is. And that’s what we want. As it means, the soup is rich and savoury.
Storing matter
Once your oxtail soup has completely cooled down, you can store it in a tight-lidded food container and keep it in the fridge/refrigerator for 4-5 days.
You can also freeze it for 6-8 weeks. The day before serving, take it out of the freezer and leave it in the fridge/refrigerator to thaw. And make sure you reheat it until it is piping hot.
When your soup has thawed, have it within 3 days and do not refreeze.
More recipes for heartwarming soup
Thank you for checking this Sop Buntut recipe. I hope you’re now thinking of trying it. When you do, can you please share what you think about it in the comments below (leave a reply)? I’ll really appreciate it.
And if you need more inspiration on soup recipes, why don’t you check my other comfort recipes that you may like?
- Chicken and sweetcorn soup.
- Soto Ayam: Indonesian clear chicken soup.
- Soto Betawi: beef soup from the Jakarta region.
Last but not least, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram and/or Pinterest. To sneak a peek at what’s cooking in my kitchen.
Take care and all the best.
Sop Buntut: Indonesian Oxtail Soup
Equipment
- Kitchen knife
- Chopping board
- Cooking pan
- Sieve or
- Colander
Ingredients
- 52.9 ounces oxtail cut into 2 inches chunks ( you can ask your butcher).
- 2 medium brown/ yellow onions peeled and chopped.
- 5 cloves garlic finely sliced.
- ¼ nutmeg seed.
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper see the note.
- 2 teaspoons salt.
- ½ inch ginger peeled.
- 5 cloves.
- 2 tomatoes cut in chunks.
- 2 stalks scallions/ green onions/ spring onions finely sliced.
- Fried shallots.
- 14 cups water.
Instructions
- Boil 6 cups/ 1.5 litres of water, then place the oxtail chunks in it. Cook until the water reaches the boiling point again, and you can see the impurities/dirt from the meat floating on the surface. Turn the heat off, drain the oxtail and rinse it. Set aside.
- Boil about 8 cups / 2 litres of water, or you can use hot boiling water from the kettle. When it’s boiling, add the onion, garlic, nutmeg, ground white pepper, ginger, cloves, and salt to it. Let it cook for about 5 minutes before adding the oxtail in.
- Cook the oxtail at moderate-high heat until it reboils. Then turn the heat down to the lowest. And slowly cook the oxtail at moderately low heat until the meat is tender and the soup is cloudy. It takes approximately 45-60 minutes. But the longer the better. Check the taste.
- Put the tomatoes and spring onions in. Then turn the heat off but leave the pan lid on for about 2-3 minutes before serving your Sop Buntut.
- Garnish the oxtail soup with fried shallots before serving.
Notes
- Ground white pepper is more-preferable for this soup recipe because it has a sharper taste and smells that you only need a little. However, if it’s not available to you, you can swap it with ground black pepper. Just check the taste and add more if needed.
- If you like, once you finish cooking the soup, you can take the oxtail pieces out and deep-fry them. This way, your dish will be called Sop Buntut Goreng, which literally means fried oxtail soup. You serve it on a plate together with the rice and a bowl of soup/broth on the side.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutritional info in this recipe is only estimate using online calculator. You should refer to it as a guide only. Please verify with your own data if you seek an accurate info.
How funny I should stumble across this recipe, I was only just talking about oxtail soup last weekend and wondered how to make it, this is getting saved for future reference.
It means the universe hears you :-). Hope you’ll like it.
Sounds delicious!
And it tastes delicious too.
Tried this recipe today for my dinner and it was lovely!
Thank you. I’m happy that you like your Sop Buntut.