Braised Oxtails with Star Anise

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 3 hours
Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 18-22 pieces (2-2.4kg) oxtail or beef shin
• salt and ground black pepper
• 2 cups tomato juice
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 4 whole star anise
• 4 dried chillies
• 2 thumb-sized pieces fresh ginger, thinly sliced (18 slices)
• rind of ½ orange, removed with a potato peeler so there is no pith
• 1 whole head garlic, cloves peeled, halved and trimmed

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 220°C and line a large roasting dish with baking paper for easy clean-up. Season the oxtails with salt and pepper and arrange in a single layer in the roasting dish. Roast for 30 minutes until well browned.
2. Remove oxtails from the roasting dish, discard fat and place oxtails into a lidded casserole dish. In a separate bowl, combine the tomato juice, water, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce. Scatter in the star anise, chillies, sliced ginger, orange rind and garlic cloves.
3. Pour the liquid over the browned meat, cover with a piece of baking paper to stop any exposed meat from drying out and cover the dish with a tight fitting lid. Turn the oven down to 180˚C and cook for 2½ hours until very tender. This dish can be cooked a day or two ahead, in which case bake for 2 hours then reheat for 40 minutes at 180˚C.