Sop Buntut - Oxtail Soup
Indonesian famous sop buntut (oxtail soup) that tastes as good as the one you find in some of the best Indonesian restaurants. You only need some oxtails and surprisingly other easy-to-find ingredients to recreate this iconic Indonesian soup.

- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 3 hr 30 min
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 kilogram (2 lb) oxtail (Indonesian: buntut sapi)
- 2 1/2 liter (10 cup) water
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 cinnamon stick (Indonesian: kayu manis)
- 5 cloves (Indonesian: cengkeh)
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg (Indonesian: bubuk pala)
- 250 gram (1/2 lb) carrot, peeled and cut into 1 inch rounds
- 250 gram (1/2 lb) potato, peeled and cut into 8 wedges per potato
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 100 gram (3.5 oz) shallots (Indonesian: bawang merah)
- 5 cloves garlic (Indonesian: bawang putih)
- 1 inch ginger (Indonesian: jahe)
- 1/2 large onion (150 gram/5 oz) (Indonesian: bawang bombay)
- 1 tomato (Indonesian: tomat), cut into small slices
- 1 scallion (Indonesian: daun bawang), thinly sliced
- 2 Chinese celery (Indonesian: daun seledri), thinly sliced
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- deep-fried shallot flakes (Indonesian: bawang merah goreng)
- 4 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (Indonesian: kecap manis)
- 4 bird-eye chilies (Indonesian: cabe rawit), seeded and thinly sliced
Instructions
- 1
Boil oxtails and water in a soup pot, then simmer until the meat is tender. This usually takes about 2 hours. If you have a pressure cooker, you can reduce the cooking time considerably to a mere 30 minutes. Remove oxtails from the stock and set aside. Strain the stock to get a clear broth. Return the broth and oxtails back to the pot.
- 2
In a frying pan, heat oil and sauté spice paste, cinnamon stick, cloves, and nutmeg until fragrant. About 5 minutes. Add this to the pot with broth and oxtails.
- 3
Bring the oxtail and broth back to a boil. Add carrot and potato and season with salt, sugar, and ground white pepper. Reduce heat and cook until carrot and potato are cooked and tender, but still quite firm. About 20 minutes. Adjust salt and sugar as needed.
- 4
Turn off heat, serve the soup with slices of tomato, scallion, and Chinese celery. Sprinkle the soup with some deep-fried shallot flakes. The soup is best eaten when still piping hot with a bowl of steamed white rice accompanied with the chili sauce and a squeeze of lime juice.