Doro Tibs, Kaysir Dinich, Duba Wat, Ayib

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.

In a hot frying pan over medium heat, cook the onions, turning and stirring them often, until they begin to lightly brown and caramelize. Don’t let them burn.

When they seem like they might soon begin to burn if you cook them any longer, add the kibbee or oil, and stir the mixture. If you usekibbee, wait until it’s all melted until you add the next ingredients.

Add the berbere, and stir it into the moist sizzling onions. Let it cook for a minute, stirring it constantly. Then add the wine, and mix the ingredients together well. The wine will begin to cook off almost immediately.

Add the chicken and stir the mixture, then let it cook for a few minutes until the chicken begins to turn white on the outside. Slowly add ½ to ¾ cups of water, bring it just to a boil, and reduce the heat. Finally, add the sliced jalapeños.

Let it all simmer until the liquid is almost cooked off and the doro tibs remain in a thick red sauce, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Kitfo & Ayib

Kitfo is a beloved beef dish that Ethiopians eat raw, but I prefer it fully cooked. I’ll include both preparations. The traditional accompaniments are gomen (recipe above) and ayib, or Ethiopian cheese. Instructions for making ayib come at the end of the kitfo recipe.

1 pound finely ground low-fat beef
4-6 tablespoons niter kibbee (Ethiopian spiced butter), or more to taste (ghee is an adequate substitute)
1 teaspoon mitmita powder, or more to taste
1 teaspoon cardamom powder, or more to taste
32 ounces of buttermilk or plain yogurt

To prepare the dish tere, or raw, melt the niter kibbee in a skillet using low heat. When it’s hot and liquefied, remove the skillet from the heat, add the beef and mix the two ingredients well. Add the spices and mix well again. If you want itlebleb, or slightly cooked, return it to the heat for a minute before adding the spices.

To prepare it yebesele, or fully cooked, put the beef and niter kibbee in a skillet, and over low heat, stir constantly until the kibbee melts and the beef is cooked to your liking. Turn off the heat, add the spices, and mix the ingredients well.

To make ayib, boil the buttermilk or yogurt over low heat for about 15 or 20 minutes, until the liquid whey separates from the soft white curds. Gently pour off the whey, getting rid of as much of the liquid as you can. The curds left behind is your ayib. Allow it to cool a little before the meal.

Serve the kitfo with dollops of ayib surrounding it, or mix some ayib right into thekitfo.

Inqualal Tibs

 

Inqualal Tibs

2 eggs
3 tablespoons diced onion
3 tablespoons diced jalapeño pepper
3 tablespoons diced tomato
1 tablespoons niter kibbee or oil, or more to taste
¼ teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon berbere, or more to taste

In a skillet, melt the niter kibbee or heat the oil, then add the diced vegetables. Let them cook for a few minutes until they become soft. Add the berbere, stir the mixture, and let it heat for another minute or two. Finally, add two eggs – don’t scramble them in a bowl – and stir the mixture around in the skillet until it’s as done as you like it to be. You can serve this dish with injera, in a wrap, or in a pita pocket, or you can just eat it with plain old American toast.

Breakfast, Bread, Appetizers & Snacks

Genfo

Ethiopians eat a number of breakfast porridges. There’s bula, made from powdered enset, which is definitely an acquired taste; and the more conventionalqinche, made with cracked wheat.

 

Genfo at Queen of Sheba in Washington

But the tastiest, as well as the easiest to prepare, isgenfo, a simple wheat or barley porridge made spicy with berbere and rich withniter kibbee. It’s sometimes called the Ethiopian fufu, the sticky staple western African dish made of pounded yams or cassava. So if you want a filling breakfast, try somegenfo. This recipe is enough for two portions.

1 cup wheat or barley flour
2 cups water
1 tablespoon berbere, or more, to taste
2-3 tablespoons niter kibbee or oil
Touch of cardamom (to taste)
Plain yogurt (optional)

Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and slowly add the flour, into which you’ve put the cardamom, stirring to avoid lumps. Keep stirring until the mixture is well moistened. Remove from heat, mold the genfo into the shape of a bowl, and hollow out a hole in the middle (see photo). If you’re using niter kibbee, melt the butter, then mix the butter (or oil if you’re not using butter) with theberbere. Finally, pour the spicy liquid into the hole you’ve hollowed out in thegenfo, and eat it by the spoonful, dipping each scoop into the liquid center. You can dress up the dish by putting a ring of ergo (yogurt) about the rim.

Kita & Chechebsa

These delicious, easy-to-make dishes are often served as a traditional breakfast. They’re made with the same basic ingredients, but you serve kita (or qita) in the shape of a mini-pizza and chechebsa – which is the Oromo preparation – in small pieces. Both are made rich and spicy with niter kibbee (spiced butter) and berbere(red pepper powder).

 

Barley kita (left) and teff chechebsa

You can use any type of flour, as long as it’s not white flour – which is just plain boring. I use whole wheat, barley or teff. The diptych with this recipe shows barley kita (on the left) and teff chechebsa (on the right). Personally, I prefer chechebsa because it’s more fun to eat, and I highly recommend making it with teff for the most authentic experience. You can click the photo to get a closer look at each variety. The following recipe is for one kita or one plate of chechebsa. Just multiply the quantities to feed as many people as you like.

½ cup of flour (barley, teff, whole wheat)
½ cup of water
½ teaspoon of cardamom (optional)
1 tablespoon (or so) of niter kibbee, or more if you want it richer
½ teaspoon of berbere, or more if you want it hotter

In a bowl, mix the flour and water well, until it forms a batter. Pour the batter onto a pre-heated non-stick skillet, which you can grease very lightly if you like. Let it cook on one side until you can safely flip it over without it falling apart or running. Then, let it cook on the other side until it’s ready to flip again. Keep flipping until it’s fully cooked, with no moist batter inside. While it’s cooking, melt the niter kibbee in a microwave, and add the berbere to the melted butter.

If you’re using a lighter-colored flour, like barley or whole wheat, let it brown just a bit. Teff flour will be darker, so you won’t really see it browning as it cooks.

Finally, when the batter is fully cooked: For kita, smear the berbere-spiced kibbeeon top; for chechebsa, break it up into bite-sized pieces, and toss the pieces in a bowl with the kibbee.

Tip #1: If you’re making kita, and it breaks into pieces when you flip it, no problem – just turn it into chechebsa when it’s done.

Tip #2: If you prefer your chechebsa pieces crispy, throw them back onto the hot skillet after you’ve tossed them in the spicy niter kibbee.