Serve: 4
Ingredients:
Asian style oxtail
2 kg Karan beef Oxtail
½ teaspoon of salt
Freshly milled black pepper
3 teaspoons of Chinese 5 spice
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 large red onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, sliced
5 centimeters knob ginger, peeled and sliced
2 chilies, sliced
1 stick cinnamon
3 tablespoons of ground coriander
4 whole star anise
250 ml Chinese rice wine, or dry sherry
45 ml tamarind paste
250 ml treacle sugar
125 ml balsamic vinegar
250 ml soya sauce

Polenta chips
1 cups polenta
2 cups chicken stock ( try and use fresh stock if possible )
1 cup coconut cream
10g coriander, chopped
10 g chives, chopped

Toasted peanut with textures of cucumber salad
1 cucumber
handfull of raw unflavoured peanut
2 tablespoons of Japaneese pickeled ginger, thinly sliced

Salad dressing
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoons mirin
½ fresh red chilli

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 160°C.
Season oxtail with salt, pepper and Chinese five-spice.
Pour oil into a pre heated ovenproof pot, shallow fry meat off gently until brown, remove and set aside. Do this in even batches until finished.
Fry off onions in the same pot making sure you get all the lovey meat dripping to infuse with the onion, add garlic, ginger and chilies, stir-fry briefly.
Return meat to pot and add remaining ingredients.
Add just enough water to cover meat.
Cover pot with a tight fitted lid or tinfoil and roast oxtail for 4-5 hours or until very tender.

Remove oxtail from sauce and place on a tray to cool.
Reduce sauce over a high heat until it reaches a syrup-like consistency.
Cover the sauce and keep aside for later use.

Allow oxtail to cool down to room temperature, remove meat from the bone and transfer to a clean bowl.

Roll out a layer of plastic wrap horizontally on a clean working bench. Strengthen the plastic sheet by repeating the process three times.

Place the chilled meat on to the plastic sheet, spread meat evenly from one side to the other about 10 cm wide .
Roll the plastic over the meat, and keep on rolling until it resembles a sausage shape. Tie off one end into knot and get as much of the air out of the rolled meat. Tie off the opposite end and put meat into the fridge, chill meat for 1 to 2 hours.
Cut meat into even portions and remove plastic. Place meat on a roasting tray standing upright.

Polenta chips:
Bring the stock and coconut cream to the boil, add chopped herbs and season liquid well.
Slowly mix the the polenta into the boiling liquid with a wooden spoon, keep stirring the mixture until you have a thick consistency, cook for a further 5 min.

Transfer hot mixture to a clean high rimed baking try, I usually line my try with plastic wrap, this will help avoid mixture from sticking to the tray. Spread mixture and push down evenly.
Allow polenta to cool on tray, flip tray over onto a chopping board. Trim the edges off the polenta, cut the rest of the polenta into 10cm chips.
Keep finished chips to the side for later use.

Salad:
Toast peanuts in a medium to hot dry pan, until peanuts have a beautiful toasted colour.
Trim the sides of the cucumber and cut in half. Shave the one half of the cucumber in thin ribbons with vegetable peeler. Half the other half of cucumber horizontally, scrape the soft seeds out and slice the two halves in chunky diagonal wedges.
Mix the two different textures of cucumber and add ginger.
Mix the dressing ingredients together and keep to the side for later use.

Platting:
Preheat oven on 180 C.
Heat the deboned oxtail in oven for 10-15 min.
Fry the polenta chips off in a nonstick frying pan with a bit of oil until they are golden brown.
Mix the dressing with the cucumber and peanuts.

Place warm meat onto the plate and dress with sauce, stack a few chips on the side with crunchy cucumber salad.