Oxtail Lugaw. Lugaw is one of the more popular Pinoy street food. When I was younger I used to have a bowl of lugaw on the streets of Baclaran in Paranaque before I head home from school and from work when I was starting to work, I used to leave in Tambo. The street food lugaw that was served on street vendors was made up of boiled rice adulterated with, I suspect starch to make it creamy and nutty. For color the street vendors usually use dilaw, kasubha or kagasubha florets, it is the cheap local version of saffron. The beef meat was mostly made up of beef fats and tendons from scrap beef bones, fish sauce and ground pepper for seasoning, you may crush some red hot chili if you want it spicy hot. I could not complain it was very cheap you get what you paid for. It may not be the best tasting beef lugaw, but sure it will satisfy your hunger and can fill an empty stomach.
In contrast, today I would like to share a proper beef lugaw using oxtail, oxtail has everything for a perfect beef lugaw. It has fats and tendons, it is meaty and rich with beef taste from the bones. For the rice I use equal parts of ordinary rice and glutinous rice. For seasoning I still use fish sauce and ground pepper, for color I used luyang dilaw or turmeric, saffron is just too expensive. Instead of dropping the boiled oxtail on the boiled rice, I have to sauté the rice with ginger, garlic and some onions.
Here is the recipe of my Oxtail Lugaw.
Ingredients:
1 kilo oxtail, cut into 2” lengths, pre-boiled till tender, reserve broth
2 cups of rice
1 cup glutinous rice
1/2 head garlic, crushed
1 thumb size, ginger, skinned, sliced
1 head garlic, peeled, crushed, chopped
1 medium size onion, peeled, chopped
2-3 thumb size ginger, skinned, cut into strips
1 small bunch, spring onion
1/2 cup fish sauce
1-2 tsp. turmeric powder
salt and pepper
cooking oil
Cooking procedure:
Wash glutinous rice and regular rice, keep aside. Wash the oxtail and place in a large sauce pan add in water up to about 2” over the meat. Add in the crushed garlic and sliced ginger, bring to a boil and slow cook for 1 to 2 hours or until the meat are tender and add more water as necessary. Remove scum that rises. Separate the meat and from the broth. Using a sieve filter out and discard all residue from the broth. Using the same sauce pan stir fry the chopped garlic until light brown, remove half of the fried garlic from the pan and keep aside. Stir in the ginger and onion and sauté for about half a minute. Add in the boiled oxtail fish sauce and some pepper, stir cook for 1 to 2 minutes then add in the glutinous rice and regular rice, stir cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, then add in the reserved broth. Continue to stir cook for another 2 to 3 minutes until all the juices are absorbed by the rice. Now add enough water, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes or until rice start to disintegrate and form a thick rice soup add more water as necessary. Add in turmeric powder and season with salt and pepper to taste, cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Serve garnished with chopped spring onion and fried garlic and with lemon or kalamansi.
See other lugaw recipe:
Lugaw, Beef Cheeks and Tripe Combination
Beef Cheeks Lugaw
Chicken Arroz Caldo with Bacon
Goto, Beef Tripe Lugaw
Arroz Caldo
Seafood Lugaw
Special Lugaw, Special Pinoy Congee