Spiced Butter and Berberi Sauce: The Cornerstones of Home-Cooked Ethiopian Food

On of the most delightful ethnic food experiences I can recall is discovering my first Ethiopian restaurant on a visit to Portland. All these lovely, spicy dishes were presented so colorfully on a plate with lovely flatbread that you tore off and used for scooping in lieu of utensils. Even better than this visually stunning display of textural variety was that they wanted me to eat with my hands! I was hooked for life. Unfortunately, my tendencies to live in smaller towns and rural areas has not put me in proximity to any Ethiopian restaurants. Aside from trips to Portland, it seemed Ethiopian food was not to be had, until one day a friend of mine told me about how he made Ethiopian food at home. He said it wasn’t terribly difficult, aside from the technique for making the crepe-like Injera bread, and really required two basic ingredients, which were spiced butter and Berbere sauce. I would not rest until I was shown how these were made, which led to some cooking instruction followed by an amazing home cooked Ethiopian dinner of lentils, collard greens with spiced cheese, Kitfo raw beef, Doro Wat chicken and delicious Injera bread. I felt so empowered! I did not have to rely on some restaurant to bring me this culinary bliss. That revelation led to a collaborative Ethiopian Thanksgiving Feast with all the above mentioned dishes plus raw Kitfo elk and a spiced bear rib dish. Figuring that they do not have bears or elk in Ethiopia, I had to wonder if we were pioneering out into some new dishes. It was delicious. It was over the top. It was way better than a turkey.

This summer I decided to spend a day making up some jars of the base ingredients so I could launch into this deliciousness at home. My friend and I spent a day making up double batches of the spiced butter and Berberi sauce, which both last a good long while in the fridge if you can refrain from cooking Ethiopian style every night.

We started off melting down many, many sticks of butter. It was inexplicably satisfying to watch all that butter turn into a golden, bubbling mass.

Then we measured out all the spices on a plate and added them in.

The lovely golden butter was then left to simmer for a good long while, wafting savory aromas throughout the house.

Then we strained it over the jar and let it cool. Here is the recipe for those of you who were hopelessly hooked at the giant pot of melting butter:

Ethiopian Spiced Butter

4 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp cardamom seeds

1 cinnamon stick

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

3 whole cloves

2 lbs salted butter

1 small yellow onion peeled and chopped

3 Tbsp peeled and chopped garlic

Measure spices on a plate. Melt butter in heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Bring to a boil until a light foam forms, then add all ingredients. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered fro 45 minutes without stirring again. Strain through several layers of cheesecloth and discard milk solids. Pour into a quart jar and store in the refrigerator for up to three months.

Now on to the Berbere sauce.

We started out toasting some of the spices in the pan (see recipe below) until they were just smelling toasty but not turning brown.

While that spice mix cooled, the remaining spices were measured out on a plate.

They were all ground fine in a spice grinder, which I must say, was a pretty integral part of the recipe. I hear you can use an electric coffee grinder just as well, but I would recommend using some implement for this part. Here is that recipe for you adventurous cooks out there:

Berbere Sauce

2 tsp cumin seeds

4 whole cloves

1/2 tsp cardamom seeds

1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns

1/4 tsp whole allspice

1 tsp whole fenugreek seeds

1/2 cup dried onion flakes

3 oz. dried New Mexico red chilies stemmed and seeded

3 small dried long hot red chilies seeded

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp salt

1/2 cup salad oil

1/2 cup dry red wine

cayenne pepper to taste

Mix cumin, cloves, cardamom, black peppercorns, allspice and fenugreek seeds. Place in a small frying pan over low heat and stir 1-2 minutes until fragrant but not discolored. Cool completely. Combine toasted spices and other ingredients (except oil and wine) in a spice grinder and grind fine in batches. Don’t inhale. Place spices in bowl and stir in oil and wine. Store in refrigerator.

Our butter and berberi making were followed by another delicious home cooked Ethiopian dinner of Injera bread, Doro Wat chicken, collard greens with spiced cheese, and Kitfo raw beef. We didn’t have any of the traditional Ethiopian honeywine, Tej, but we did have a bottle of a local mead by the name of Blue Dog that was rather tasty. It was all good stuff, and so much fun to eat with your fingers! Sometimes in life, you just have to dive in and get messy.

Here are a few of the basic recipes to put together your own Ethiopian dinner. There are more dishes with lentils and various meats, but these are the particular ones we had for this meal. Enjoy!

Injera Bread

3 cups warm water

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

3 Tbsp club soda

Put warm water in a blender or food processor and slowly add the flour, increasing speed. Keep the sides scraped down. Put the batter in a bowl and add the soda. Heat a frying pan (a crepe pan works well here) and ladle in 1/4 cup batter at a time, tilting the pan around to evenly distribute. This is very similar to making a crepe in the way you cook it. When the top is filled with little holes and the edges start to curl a bit, remove the edge with your fingers and lay out on a kitchen towel to cool for 3 minutes. Then roll it up to serve. You can lay one out on each plate and pile bits of the dishes on, or make one communal plate in the middle and give everyone their own rolled Injera.

Kitfo Raw Beef

1/2 C spiced butter

1/2 C minced onion

3 Tbsp finely minced bell pepper

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

2 Tbsp minced hot green pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom

1 Tbsp lemon juice

4 tsp Berberi sauce

2 tsp salt

2 Lb finely minced steak

Saute onions, peppers, garlic, cayenne, ginger and cardamom for 2 minutes in spiced butter. Cool, then ad lemon juice, Berbere and salt. Mix into meat.

Spiced Cheese and Collard Greens

Spiced cheese:

1 Lb cottage cheese

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 C spiced butter

1/4 tsp cardamom

salt and pepper to taste

Saute garlic in butter. Add spices. Cool and stir into cheese.

2 Lb collards or kale with stems removed

1/2 C water

1/2 tsp cayenne

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp crushed garlic

1/4 C spiced butter

3 Tbsp yellow onion minced

salt

Cook greens in saucepan with water. Add spices and butter and onion. Cook until greens collapse. Drain a bit. Salt to taste. Stir in cheese.

Doro Wat Chicken

1 whole chicken cut up

4 – 6 hard boiled eggs

1 lime

5 C thinly sliced red onion

1/2 C spiced butter

1/2 C Berbere sauce

1/2 C dry red wine

2 cloves crushed garlic

2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1/2 c water

salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Marinate chicken for 1 hour in lime juice. Saute onion in 2 Tbsp spiced butter. Cover and cook on low in pot. Add rest of butter and Berbere, wine, garlic, cayenne and ginger. Add 1/2 C water. Simmer and add chicken. Cook for 30 minutes adding more water if needed. Add peeled hardboiled eggs and top with pepper.

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