The weekend I bought my pressure cooker some time in June was the FIRST time I’ve had oxtail soup. Ever. So memalukan.

I was reliably informed of a particular halal butcher in the suburb of Firth Park that sells all manner of cow parts including tripe and, of course, the much needed ekoq in this instance. A whole oxtail came to about £7-8 and we had the butcher serially slice the oxtail along its axis (paham tak?).

For the other ingredients, we used:

1 whole large onion
A few baby new potatoes
1 carrot
2 cinnamon sticks (kayu manis)
2-3 star anise (bunga lawang)
5-6 cardamoms (pelaga)

Bung everything including 6-7 slices of oxtail and fill half the pressure cooker with water. Put it over the fire for about 45-50 minutes, following which allow the pressure to come down which takes about 15 minutes or so after padam api. An hour may seem overkill but the meat just comes off the bone. In fact, you could see the meat lekang from the central vertebral column.

If you noticed, we didn’t use any seasoning as the way ayah likes it is to season it after, like so:

A dash (or two) of Maggi Liquid Seasoning
White pepper (lada sulah)
Chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley (daun sup)
Chopped spring onions
Home-made fried shallots (bawang goreng)

And there you have it. Yum. And yes, we’ve made it for berbuka and it is so filling!