Slow Cooker Red Wine Spicy Bean Paste Ox Tail Stew (燉紅酒春辣醬牛尾, Dan6 Hung4 Zau2 Ceon1 Laat6 Zoeng3 Ngau4 Mei5)

This recipe, using beef oxtails, is very similar to the recipe using beef short ribs: Slow Cooker Chinese-Style Red Wine Beef Short Ribs (燉紅酒牛肋骨, Dan⁶ Hung⁴ Zau² Ngau⁴ Lak⁶ Gwat¹). Chinese stew spices - star anise, cassia bark or cinnamon sticks, ginger, garlic, and dried tangerine peel – are used together with red wine and spicy bean paste to make this dish. So you can also think of this as a red wine beef oxtail stew with Chinese spices. Notice that rock sugar or dried dates, which are commonly used in Chinese stews, are not used in this dish. The natural sweetness from the red wine suffices in this recipe and any added sugar would make the dish too sweet. The ingredients are browned (except the daikon) before being placed in the slow cooker, but if you’re in a hurry, this step can be omitted.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

4 lb.	2 kg.	Beef oxtails (牛尾, ngau4 mei5), already cut into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces
1 in.	2.5 cm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
6 cloves	6 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
½ cup	125 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
½ cup	125 ml.	Red wine (紅酒, hung4 zau2)
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
3 Tbs.	45 ml.	Tapioca Starch (木薯澱粉, muk6 syu4 din6 fan2)
4 Tbs.	60 ml.	Laoganma Brand Spicy Bean Paste (春辣醬, ceon1 laat6 zoeng3) or equivalent
1 lb.	500 g.	Carrots (紅蘿蔔, hung4 lo4 baak6), cut on the diagonal to ¾-inch (2 cm.) pieces
1 lb.	500 g.	Daikon (紅蘿蔔, hung4 lo4 baak6), quartered and then cut into ¾-inch (2 cm.) pieces
12	12	Whole dried Shiitake mushrooms (冬菇, dung1 gu1), rehydrated
		Red wine to cover the oxtails in the slow cooker
		Oil for cooking

Soak-Out Cooker Ingredients

2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), lightly crushed
2 slices	2 slices	Ginger (薑, goeng1), lightly crushed
1	1	Dried tangerine peel (陳皮, can4 pei4)
2 whole	2 whole	Star anise (八角, baat3 gok3)
1 stick	1 stick	Cassia bark (桂皮, gwai3 pei4) or cinnamon sticks

Equipment

14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan
3.5 in.	9 cm.	Soak-out cooker to hold the spices in the slow cooker
6.5 qt.	6 L.	Slow cooker (crock pot) to cook the stew
		Fat separator

Instructions

Laoganma Brand Spicy Bean Paste
(春辣醬, ceon1 laat6 zoeng3)

1. Purchase already cut, or have your butcher cut, beef oxtails into 2-inch (5 cm.) pieces. Remove the silver skin and excess fat from the exterior of the oxtails. You will not be able to remove all the silver and fat from the exterior, but the more removed means less fat in the sauce.
2. Marinate the beef in a covered container for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, red wine (reserve the rest of the bottle for later use), ground white pepper, and sesame oil. If marinating the beef overnight, take it out of the refrigerator before placing the entire contents into the slow cooker. Remove the beef oxtails, leaving the marinating liquid in the slow cooker. Remove as much liquid from the beef oxtails as possible (a paper towel works well) to facilitate browning the beef later in a wok.
3. Add the tapioca starch and Laoganma brand 

   

   Soak-Out Cooker

   Spicy Bean Paste, or equivalent, to the slow cooker and mix thoroughly with the marinade. The tapioca starch will thicken the sauce even when cooked for the long time needed in a slow cooker.
4. Lightly crush the garlic and ginger before putting them into the soak-out cooker with the dried tangerine peel, star anise, and cassia bark or cinnamon sticks. Close and lock the soak out cooker, and place it into the slow cooker.
5. Pour boiling water over the dried Shiitake mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the mushrooms for at least one hour. Remove the Shiitake mushrooms from the rehydration liquid and remove the stems. Reserve the rehydration liquid for possible later use in the cooking process. If you need to rehydrate the Shiitake mushrooms quickly, use the method described here: Technique: How to Quickly Rehydrate Dried Shiitake Mushrooms (冬菇, Dung¹ Gu¹).
6. Wash and cut the carrots into ¾-inch (2 cm.) pieces.
7. Wash and cut the daikon into quarters, and cut each quarter into ¾-inch (2 cm.) pieces.
8. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil and then the beef. Brown all sides of the beef oxtails in batches, so be sure to reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil. Deglaze the wok with red wine and transfer the browned beef to the slow cooker.
9. Brown the mushrooms and carrots individually before adding each ingredient to the slow cooker in that order. Deglaze the pan with red wine after browning the last vegetable (carrots), adding the liquid to the slow cooker.
10. The liquid in the slow cooker should just cover all the ingredients. If this is not the case, add more red wine to the slow cooker. If there’s not enough red wine left in the bottle, use the Shiitake mushroom rehydration liquid.
11. Place the daikon into the slow cooker. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for up to 8 hours.
12. After cooking is complete, the contents of the slow cooker should be transferred to the serving plate. Remove the soak out cooker and discard the contents. Defat the liquid in a fat separator and pour the liquid over the beef oxtails in the serving plate. Serve with steamed rice.