[Recipe] Rabo Encendido or Rabo Guisado (Spicy Oxtail Stew)

Learn how to make rabo encendido or rabo guisado, a tender, flavorful, spicy oxtail stew with flaky, fall-off-the-bone beef tail and a lot of vegetables, a popular Caribbean delicacy.

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine Caribbean, Dominican

Keyword dominican oxtail recipe, rabo encendido in english, rabo picante, spanish oxtail recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Servings servings

Calories 918kcal

Author Clara Gonzalez

Ingredients

4 lbs oxtail cut in the joints [1.8 kg]
1 teaspoon oregano (dry, ground)
¼ teaspoon pepper (freshly-cracked, or ground)
Juice of 1 lime
2¼ tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (soy, corn, or peanut)
2 diced carrot
1 cup boiled chickpeas
¼ cup pitted green olives
2 large red onion chopped
2 cubanela (cubanelle pepper) (cubanelle) peppers, chopped
4 sprigs thyme (fresh) (optional) remove the sticks, we'll just use the leaves
8 tomato chopped
1 cup tomato sauce or 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 celery stalk chopped
4 garlic cloves crushed
½ Scotch bonnet pepper or habanero, crushed
4 sprigs parsley minced or cilantro

Instructions

To season the oxtail, place it in a large bowl and add oregano, black pepper, lime juice, and a tablespoon of salt. Let it rest covered in the fridge for an hour or two.
Once it has rested, heat the vegetable oil in a large pot or, preferably, a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Stir in oxtail and cook stirring until it browns. It may release some liquid, just let it evaporate eventually and cook until it browns.
After browning the oxtail, add a cup of water, and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Reduce heat to medium and simmer covered until the meat is very tender, uncovering and stirring every 5 minutes or so, and adding small amounts of water as it becomes necessary to prevent it from scorching (see notes).
When the meat is very tender (test with a fork) let the water reduce and add the carrots, chickpeas, olives, onion, cubanela pepper, thyme, tomatoes, tomato sauce, celery, garlic, and Scotch bonnet pepper to the pot.
Cook stirring until onions become translucent. Add 1 ¼ cup of water, and simmer until the carrots are cooked through.
Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the parsley, then remove from the heat.
Serve hot, oxtail has a lot of gelatin, so it will start to congeal once cooled down.

Notes

You can shorten the preparation time by using a pressure cooker. Without the pressure cooker getting the meat tender enough (it has to fall off the bone) may take over an hour. With the pressure cooker it will take about 25 minutes.

If you are unsure how you will like it with the Scotch bonnet pepper (they are very spicy) use your favorite hot sauce instead and add to taste.

Nutrition