Quanta Fir Fir (and Majet)

In honor of my birthday, my podmate and I decided to make Majet, a tower of 4 dishes that is served at Bolé restaurant. After postponing the dinner once, we finally made it happen last weekend. And, wow. I kind of can't believe we made something SO delicious and magical. I told another friend about it who commented, it's like you had meat cake! Which is kind of true. Majet is totally like meat cake.

I ate way too much because I couldn't help it, it was so good. After dinner I proceeded to be fairly horizontal for the rest of the evening - which was pretty perfect. We watched the new episodes of Top Chef and smoked hookah and it felt like I was on a weekend vacation with 5 star dining.

Majet is Bolé's creation, and is basically layers of quanta fir fir, beef tibs, kitfo, and gomen, with Ayb (a dry, fresh Ethiopian cottage cheese) and injera. It is a vision to behold, and would be quite stunning to serve for a group. Someday, this will happen. 

I somehow have neglected to post the recipe for kitfo previously, so that is still on the agenda, though the new recipe to me of this undertaking was the quanta fir fir, using the quanta (Ethiopian beef jerky) I made a couple of months ago. Quanta fir fir is commonly served as breakfast - with the dried injera it's almost porridge like, and the base of it (a berbere spiced sauce of tomato/onion) is a dish you could also eat on its own. I used some leftovers to make quanta fir fir with eggs, and it's kind of like an Ethiopian version of chilaquiles using dried injera (called derkosh) instead of corn tortilla chips. *To make derkosh, you just need to dry any leftover injera in the oven at a low temp. It shrinks a bit and becomes crisp. You can also buy it from Ethiopian grocers.

The Quanta Fir Fir is the orange layer on the top!

We made a large batch, which made for MANY meals. I am halving what we made below. My friend is not a measurer, so I estimated as best I could. We chopped everything in the food processor because we were prepping items for this dish and for the gomen too. I'm guessing this amount would serve 4?! Really hard for me to tell.

• 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1" piece of ginger, minced
• 2 red onions, diced small
  
• 4-5 tomatoes (med), diced small
  
• 3 T berbere
  
• sea salt to taste
  
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 1/4 - 1/3c avocado oil
• 1c quanta, torn into bite size pieces 
• 1 tsp black cardamom
• 1-2 T Ethiopian spiced butter (or ghee)
• 1-2 c dried injera (called derkosh)
  

1. To a dry pan, heat onions over medium heat. They will release their liquid and start to become thick, almost gelatinous. 
2. Add 2/3 of the garlic/ginger, leaving the rest to add at the end. Also add spices, bouillon, and 1/4c avocado oil. *You will likely add some more oil as you cook, looking for a thick, almost gelatinous texture, and so the onions and spices do not stick to the bottom of the pan. The berbere will make the dish very red. 
3. Once you've sauteed the added ingredients in the oil (several minutes), add a little water and the tomatoes. The mix will be quite soupy. Turn the heat to med-low, cover and simmer. It will get thicker. (This dish can be served on its own here, it is really delicious as is.)
   

   

   Berbere sauce on left, gomen on the right
   

4. After the sauce simmers for 5 minutes or more, it will be a bit thicker (see photo above). Add the quanta, black cardamom, and butter/ghee. Stir and simmer another few minutes to hydrate the jerky. Finally, add the derkosh. Gently stir while it hydrates, several minutes. The saucy mix will now become quite thick, almost like a porridge of injera. It is now ready to serve!
   

 

For the Majet, we started with a layer of injera, 2 pieces layered on top of one another, rolled up on the sides to create an edge. We then layered our beef tibs, and then the quanta fir fir. On top of that went the gomen, followed by kitfo, and finally the ayb. Plus kitfo in the corners with tibs in between to fill the platter and touches of more ayb for aesthetic viewing.

 So spectacular!!!

Ethiopian Beef Jerkey (Quanta)

I bought myself a food dehydrator this winter and have used it for a handful of things, one of which was a prime reason for making the purchase: jerky. Which, having previously made jerky only from venison, I have to admit that trimming the fat from beef, even from lean cuts, is so much more tedious! I also have yet to develop a good method for making some longer nice thin cuts of the beef - at least the way my eye of round roast was butchered, which I found less than ideal. But I will withhold final judgement until I've tried other cuts. Also, I realized after dehydrating that I could have cut the beef a bit thicker - good to know!

Quanta firfir is a very popular Ethiopian dish using dried meat (jerky) and dried injera. I've had it before, but have not made it at home. So while my primary interest in making jerky is as canoe trip travel food, a secondary interest is to make quanta firfir. At some future date, when I will have some tutorial. (Which, I just realized would also make a good canoe trip meal because it uses all dried ingredients! Huzzah!) I did embark on making this jerky independent of my Ethiopian friend because I was able to watch a youtube video in Amharic where the ingredients were typed out in English. Friends, this turned out amazing! I love these spices - the spiciness of the mitmita totally kicks this jerky out of the park.

The spices mixed in with the beef made me so hungry for kitfo (I admit I sampled some raw jerky morsels b/c I couldn't resist). You will need Ethiopian spices if you make this - there just will not be a proper substitute. 

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of lean beef (eye of round, flank, etc), trimmed of all fat, cut thinly
• 2 tsp Berbere
• 5 T Mitmita
  
• 2 T salt 
• 2 1/2 tsp Korerema (false cardamom, ground)
• 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
  

Mix all spices together in a small bowl. 

Add spice mix, a little at a time, to the sliced beef. Mix very thoroughly and well with your (gloved) hands. Your goal is to cover all the meat surface with some spice mix. This will take some time. Once the beef is covered, let it marinate in the fridge for 6-12 hours.

To dry: lay in a single layer on your dehydrator racks, making sure that no meat is overlapping. Dry at 145 degrees for 4-10 hours, depending on the thickness of your jerky. (Because I cut mine so thin, it was done after 6 hours. I could have pulled several pieces after 4, but instead have some very thin extra crispy bits.) 

You know your jerky is done when there is no squish to the meat, and the jerky is pliable and leathery. If they break when you bend them, they are overly dry. You want them to bend and crack, but not break when cool (much like a green stick from the forest).

Ethiopian Lamb and Collards

This weekend my friend taught me a new dish that was a common winter stew back home. My friend's mom is Gurage, the tribe or people whose specialty dishes include kitfo and kocho. Gurage folks eat kocho as their form of flat bread (versus injera), and my friend tells stories about her mom only eating kocho while the rest of the family ate the injera. This dish is also a Gurage one, and we ate it this weekend with kocho that I bought at Shabelle Grocery on Franklin Ave in Minneapolis. (For $10 for a package of what amounts to 8 kocho pieces. These come from Addis Ababa, coordinated by one of the folks at Dilla Restaurant on the west bank.) I really like kocho - it is a fermented flat bread that you can read more about here. It is also gluten free, which not all injera (at least in this country), is. 

Kocho - heated/fried in a bit of oil

This dish has pretty much everything I want in winter: lots of greens, chunks of meat, and a rich, buttery broth. The kocho is an added bonus that you also don't need.

4 large servings:

• 2+ pounds lamb stew meat or leg, cut in 1-2" pieces. (Have the butcher do this since there will be some bone there.)
  
• 1/4 c avocado oil
• 2-3 large red onions, diced
  
• 2-4 bunches collard greens, chopped - if you have small bunches, do 4! You want more greens than meat
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 5-6 jalapenos, sliced with seeds
• Salt and black pepper
  
• Ethiopian spiced butter to serve
• Mitmita to serve

1. Heat your oil in a large pot. Add onions and garlic and saute on medium until soft, taking care not to burn and to stir often.

2. After 5-10 minutes, add the lamb meat and about a cup of hot water. Add generous amounts of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, and decrease the heat to low. Cover and simmer for about an hour or 90 minutes total, until the lamb is tender.

3. Add the greens about 30 minutes into the simmering. *You could also add them just after the meat, but I prefer a slightly less soft green.

 4. Just before serving, adjust the seasoning to taste, and add the jalapenos. Let that simmer another few minutes and prepare your butter/mitmita, if using. *Warm your spiced butter, and stir in mitmita spice, making the butter bright red and spicy. 

5. Serve in a large bowl or rimmed plate with some of the broth. Spoon mitmita butter on the side of your bowl to dip your lamb and kocho into as you eat (it will also melt into the bit of broth). Eat with kocho if you have some!

Gomen (Ethiopian Greens)

This week my friend and I are working remotely from the north shore, which was never possible for me pre-pandemic times, and feels pretty luxurious. The leaves are changing and it is really beautiful, and we've had delicious food and cooking and some good movie watching, primarily several Chadwick Boseman films. It has only been 2 years since I saw Black Panther, but I forgot SO MUCH of it! It helped that I knew the basic ending, so when I was stressed out mid-movie, forgetting what happened next, I ultimately knew it ended well. Which I cannot say for 2 of his other films that we watched, 42 and Marshall, which were both excellent and based on true events, so though I had some idea of the ending, it was not enough to not be stressed out!

My friend taught me how to make traditional gomen this week. The most notable thing about the dish is that the collards (or kale) are chopped/minced very fine to get the right texture/cooking. We ate them with some chicken and injera for maximum deliciousness, though I had some leftovers (chicken and gomen) sans injera with yogurt and a cucumber/tomato salad that were also great. *Note: I updated this recipe after cooking this together a 2nd time.

Gomen, serves 4-6

• 2 red onions, diced small
  
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 c Avocado oil (or oil of choice), plus more if needed
  
• 2 large bunches collards or kale
• opt seasoning: chicken bouillon cube
  
• salt and pepper
  
• 3-4 jalapenos, diced small (seeds too)

1. Prep your ingredients: chop and mince the onions, garlic, jalapenos and the greens. You could do all of these things in a food processor (separately), or by hand. If chopping by hand, remove the stem from the collards. Lay the green collard leaves on top of one another and make a tight role. Finely "chiffonade" the greens (meaning cut the role in fine slices, resulting in thin strips). Then take the chiffonade strips and turn them so you can cut them perpendicular to the first cuts to mince them. You want fine pieces of collards.

2. Heat a heavy saucepan over medium heat; add onions and saute until they start to release their juices and get soft (about 5 minutes). Add garlic to saute another 2 minutes. The mixture will get a bit gelatinous. Add avocado oil to keep things from sticking. Also add salt, pepper and any seasoning (bouillon cube, sometimes a dash of paprika and turmeric).

3. Add chopped greens. Saute and cook, stirring often, adding some more oil if needed. You do not add water here, despite maybe thinking about it. You want just enough oil so the greens don't stick to the pan.

4. Once the greens are soft and the whole dish seems like its glistening and delicious, add the jalapeno. Stir well, and heat another few minutes (or alternately turn heat to very low and finish other dishes you are preparing) and serve.

Ethiopian Beef Tibs

Well, this is a dish I've been meaning to post for awhile, though I did not have injera to eat with it. Next time I make these I might take myself on the adventure to procure some all-teff injera from Shega Foods.

I went to a new Ethiopian place that opened near my house several months ago intending to order kitfo and kocho, neglecting to notice they only serve that on weekends. So, without injera (they had only the glutinous kind), I opted to get their beef tibs, assuming they would certainly be good, using salad as the injera-vessel. Friends, they were not good. They were swimming in oil and were bland and not caramelized and it was disappointing. I am spoiled by Bolé. I guess I thought all tibs were crispy and chewy and delicious. Not so. (Incidentally, Bolé's link has a youtube video where they are making their Derek Tibs. You can see the goodness! They also show their signature dish Majet, which is a beautiful tower of Derek Tibs, Kitfo, and Quanta Firfir that I highly recommend with the all teff injera.)

Previously made tibs with shiro and avocado salad atop injera

I learned to make these tibs from my friend who grew up in Ethiopia. It took about 6 times for me to finally get it, thanks to her standing by and saying, well, are you going to make the tibs or what? So I would quit waiting for her to tell me what to do. 😂  (I am still in that phase with the creamy chickpea dish shiro, which means I have to make it another time or two with her nearby before I post that one, which is nice to eat alongside.) She and I have used various cuts of meat for this dish, and the favorite is a thinly sliced top round steak. The meat is diced into pretty small pieces, so you can also use skirt steak, flank steak, a flat iron, etc and just trim any fat.

Beef Tibs serves 2-4

1+ lb lean steak, cut into 1/2" square pieces

1/2 large onion, sliced thin

3 T Niter Kibbeh

2 T Ethiopian cardamom*

1/4 tsp mitmita (or more, it's spicy)

1 jalapeno, diced

2 cloves garlic

sprigs of rosemary (opt)

*Ethiopian cardamom is more coarsely ground, and is also called "false cardamom" or "Korarima." It is a black cardamom from the ginger family, not the smaller green pods of Indian cardamom. You can buy it at Shega Foods, along with mitmita spice mix, and Niter Kibbeh (if you don't want to make it). (If you do not have Ethiopian false cardamom, use regular cardamom and add a touch of nutmeg, cloves, and black pepper.)

1. Heat a large cast iron skillet on high heat. Add your meat to the skillet (no oil/fat is added yet, so you are cooking the meat dry). Cook off all of the meat juices until the meat starts to brown, 6-12 minutes depending on your meat.

2. Add your onion slices, also dry, to the meat. Cook until the onions release their juices and also begin to brown, several minutes.

3. Lower the heat and add the niter kibbeh, cardamom and mitmita, being sure to coat all of the meat pieces with the butter and spices. Add the garlic, jalapeno, and rosemary. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Salt to taste. Serve!

The bite size pieces are perfect for eating with injera and with your hands. This time I ate them (non-traditionally) with some roasted beets, cabbage, and some left over rice.

Ethiopian spiced liver

I wanted to make liver for dinner, and decided to prepare it like I would Ethiopian tibs (my version, taught me by my friend, apparently they vary), which involves small, diced pieces of beef that are cooked well in spiced butter, with onions and jalapenos and spices. The beef pieces get all nice and charred and chewy. There is a common Ethiopian liver dish called dulet, which I have had once before, served mixed with (raw or cooked) beef in spiced butter and with mitmita spice, and (sometimes? always?) with tripe. This is not that. This is just regular cooked chicken liver, with Ethiopian spices.

It turned out amazing! I made it with some charred onions and peppers, and had Tikel Gomen, my go-to cabbage dish, along-side. Yum. I didn't actually measure out the spices, so this is my estimate. I like my chicken liver cooked sort of medium: browned on the outside, but soft and pinkish in the middle. That is what I did here, and all the spices fried up in the butter and made great little flavor bits.

Ethiopian Spiced Liver
glug of ghee/butter/olive oil
1 red onion, roughly chopped in wedges
1 green pepper, roughly chopped
1 lb chicken livers
1 T Ethiopian cardamom*
1/4 tsp mitmita spice (or less as preferred; it's spicy)
2 T niter kibbeh (spiced ghee)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 small jalepeno, diced small
*Ethiopian cardamom is more coarsely ground, and is also called "false cardamom" or "Korarima." It is a black cardamom from the ginger family, not the smaller green pods of Indian cardamom. I have a supply of the stuff from Ethiopia, but you can also buy it at Shega Foods, along with mitmita spice mix, which is spicy! So use it mindfully. (One site I found says if you do not have Ethiopian false cardamom, use regular cardamom and add a touch of nutmeg, cloves, and black pepper.)

1) Heat regular butter/ghee or olive oil in a small/med cast iron pan on med-high heat. Add the onions and saute for a few minutes to soften and separate the wedges into pieces. Add green peppers and saute another couple of minutes. *I then put the pan under the broiler, stirring every so often to turn the veggies over and get an even better char. You could also continue on the stove.
2) Heat a medium-large cast iron pan on medium heat, and add the niter kibbeh. When it is melted, add the liver pieces in one layer. Brown on one side for 3-4 minutes, and then flip. They will likely spatter some, so I used a mesh grease guard thing. (Or you could do what I did not, which is to dry the liver pieces a bit so they are less wet.)
3) Sprinkle spices over all of the pieces of liver so each piece gets a bit of everything. Especially make sure to distribute the cardamom evenly. Add the jalapeno and fry it along with the liver.
4) Continue stirring several more minutes. You are cooking the liver so it gets browned and coated in spices and butter, flipping or stirring as needed until it is to your liking. Mine probably cook for a total of 7-8 minutes.

Serve the liver with the now charred onions and peppers, and any scraped up bits from the pan (primarily cardamom and spiced butter). This would all be tasty with injera too, if you have some on hand!

Niter Kibbeh (Ethiopian spiced butter)

My first encounter with Niter Kibbeh was through making kitfo in 2013. I'd never had kitfo in the world, so I had no idea what this recipe was supposed to be like. When I later ate it in various Ethiopian restaurants, I laughed at my attempt: there was a likeness, but it also was a bit unrecognizable. The main difference is that I made spiced butter but I didn't strain it, or actually complete the process, and instead just mixed in the whole thing with meat. It was still good, but not nearly as smooth or subtle. As I've gotten more familiar with Ethiopian dishes, I see that my kitfo was more like kitfo dulet, which has peppers and onions added in. So, fast forward to more recently: I had not made Niter Kibbeh until now because I kept being gifted it. Now I am out, and it is time to make my own in order to cook Christmas dinner tomorrow!

This butter is necessary for many Ethiopian recipes - without it you miss some key flavor. I use Niter Kibbeh most often now with tibs (recipe forthcoming) and greens, but also with cabbage or eggs. It is needed for shiro (chickepea dish), which is creamy and delicious and I will post sometime. Generally this butter makes any dish better.

There are different recipes for making Niter Kibbeh, but some months ago I bought a butter spice packet from Shega Foods in Minneapolis, which is also where I buy all-teff injera. (Shega Foods is in the old Seward Co-op space, and they also sell Niter Kibbeh if you want to buy some ready made.) I have no idea what is in this spice mix, and I decided to consider that it was all of the dry spices, and to still add onion, garlic and ginger. I also threw in a cinnamon stick, just because. I think I was right, because the final product turned out really well: right coloring, and very nice flavor. Link here for a recipe without the spice mix.

Niter Kibbeh (makes just under a pint)
1 pound butter (no salt)
small onion, chopped
2 T minced garlic cloves
3 T minced ginger
cinnamon stick (opt)
2 T Qibe Materia (Spiced Butter Mix from Shega Foods)

1) Chop butter in pieces and melt on low heat in a heavy saucepan. Add all ingredients.

2) Simmer on low for 60-90 minutes. This process is just the same as making ghee - you are separating out the milk solids, which sink to the bottom or stick to the sides of the pot. You want to be careful to not burn the spices or the bits. They can brown, but not burn - so keep the heat very low!!

3) After the allotted time, turn off heat an let sit for some minutes. Pour through cheese cloth or a fine sieve to remove spices and milk fat bits.

4) Let sit out to cool, and then store in the fridge or freezer. It will last a long time!

Samosa filling (Keema) and Tikel Gomen

This is the 2nd time I've made Nom Nom Paleo's beef samosa filling, Indian Spiced Keema, along with Ethiopian cabbage and carrots, or Tikel Gomen. They are delicious together.

If you want to get especially fancy, you could also make Besan Chilla, a north Indian flatbread made out of chickpea flour, that when eaten with the Keema is very samosa like. I did not make them this time around, but the combo of the three was a total trifecta. Yum.

Follow everything with a cup of turmeric-ginger tea with coconut milk, and really, it's a pretty perfect meal. (A meal in which I apparently care much more about eating than photographing. These photos are pretty atrocious!)

*My dinner companion was not eating dairy, so I used coconut oil in the keema. It was still good, just a bit less depth (in my opinion). I also didn't have cilantro. The cilantro kicks things up a notch, but perhaps like me, your cilantro is buried under some snow in the front garden!

Keema
2 tablespoons butter, ghee or coconut oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 jalapeno peppers, finely diced
2 pounds ground beef (or lamb/goat/combo)
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 ½ teaspoons salt
½ cup full-fat canned coconut milk
1 tablespoon garam masala
Juice from half a lemon
¼ cup minced cilantro

1) Melt butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute onions for about 10 minutes, until translucent and beginning to brown.
2) Add garlic, ginger, and jalapeno and saute until softened. Then add ground beef. Cook until cooked through, breaking up meat with your spoon.
3) Add turmeric, salt, and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer, and cover the pan and reduce to medium low heat. Simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4) After 20 minutes, remove lid and check that the liquid is gone. If not, continue cooking uncovered another few minutes until it evaporates. Add garam masala, lemon juice, and cilantro. Serve!

Tikel Goman

1/4 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
4 carrots, sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 head cabbage, sliced

3 red potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces (opt)

1) Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat.
2) Toss in the carrots and onion and saute them in the oil for about 5 minutes.
3) Stir in the seasonings (salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, ginger) and toast for a minute.
4) Add in the cabbage and potatoes. Stir to combine. Cover the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.
*Mine got a little dry in cooking, so I added in a splash of coconut milk. 

Roasted Goat Leg

This year's Christmas feasting was all about goat. I basically watched and wrote things down while my friend did the work, and of course rather than get exact measurements, just estimated. It's all forgiving. It turned out delicious, and my friend seemed satisfied that the kitchen smelled "like an Ethiopian home." The day was a culinary fusion of wild rice, gravlox, fruit (including the best papaya I have ever had), date balls and baclava, and a dinner of goat leg, Ethiopian style rice, tomato-avocado salad, and creamed spinach. Yum.

The goat leg was fresh and beautiful - picked up from Holy Land. My friend talked with the butcher there and had them clean the leg and trim off some of the excess fat, but not all of it. The leg we got included an upper flap that had some rib bones in it as well. My friend says this is not common, usually you just get the leg and not that extra bit. But that extra bit was some of my favorite part. Our leg in total was about 5 pounds. She also got a LOT of spice mixes from Holy Land (which smell amazing) - and she got me gluten free injera because they sell it there. We had way too much food, and the injera is still in my fridge. But, if you are gluten free and wanting teff-only-injera, go to Holy Land (HL)! You can procure some!

Goat Leg Marinade

Mild Currey Powder spice mix (from HL) x 3 parts

Beryani Spice mix (from HL) x 2 parts
Baraka brand "Grill Spices" x 2 parts
Samna Spice x 1 part
Roasted Garlic and Herb mix x 2 parts
Monterey steak spice mix x 2 parts
Black Pepper x 3 parts
Garlic Salt x 4 parts
All Greek Seasoning x 3-4 parts
Olive oil
One bunch fresh rosemary (to add later)

Mix the spices (sans rosemary) together in a bowl, then add olive oil to create a paste. You want enough spice rub to smear over every surface of the goat leg.

Set oven at 250 degrees (yes, that low). Wrap goat leg in tin foil and set on a large roasting pan or tray. Bake for 3 hours, flipping leg one time in the middle.

After 3 hours, puncture the thicker parts of the meat with a sharp paring knife. Spread the rosemary leaves over the meat on all sides. Set the leg in the top rack and cook another hour. Move to the lower rack and cook for a (now 5th) hour.

You know the meat is down when it is separating from the bone and basically splits open when you cut it with a knife. It will be smelling really good, and be tender.

We ate ours with creamed spinach (a la Brasa, which turned out great), rice (made with onions, garlic, tomatos, olive oil, and the curry spice mix/Beryani spice mix), and a tomato/avocado/onion salad. It was amazing - the left overs too.

Here's a photo of the gravlox, brie, and homemade crackers too:

Doro Wat and Garden Berries!

It's finally cooling off! The heat of the past week enforced some strict relaxation time for me - I spent many hours laying around in front of a fan, reading. The reading has included some YA sci-fi, but also a non-fiction book called The Man who Quit Money that is really sticking with me. I've been thinking about it ever since I finished, and am feeling affected by the person's story and thoughtful choices to live not just outside a cash economy, but really in total separation from it because he doesn't barter or trade. He's been living this way for over 13 years, and it sounds like somewhat of a spiritual practice for him.

So, while pondering a gift economy, I got to enjoy some bounty from the garden: the rest of the snap peas, the first zucchini and cucumber, and also blueberries and black raspberries! The berries usually don't ripen at the same time, but because of the late and weird weather this summer/spring, they somehow have and so I get to enjoy them together, which is quite delicious. I mostly am eating them with some coconut milk or cream on top, but made some pancakes this morning as a conduit for the berries. The leftover pancakes functioned as crepes to hold more berries for lunch. Yum!


I also tried a recipe from Nom Nom Paleo for Doro Wat, an Ethiopian dish that is primarily chicken, berbere spice, onions, chicken broth, and hardboiled eggs, plus some lime juice and ginger in there. It was really delicious and pretty easy - all on the stove top so did not heat the house up too much. I don't use berbere spice very much, but I bought a really nice blend (that was not as spicy as regular berbere) in Iowa City a couple of years ago. The flavor is really different from the other foods I've been eating lately, so it was a nice change. The Doro Wat reheated nicely for lunch, and was a good dish to eat where I had air conditioning!

This is my extremely un-photogenic version of the dish!

Kitfo

I am not sure how to best convey the amazing-ness of this dish, except that it is perhaps the best thing I have eaten lately - right up there with those raw oysters, but better?! (And at home versus out at a fancy restaurant!) It combines warm, browned butter with onions and red pepper, incredible spices, and really nice raw meat. I nearly swooned while eating it, and have been plotting about when I can have it again. If you have been hesitant about raw meat before, this might be the gateway recipe!

Kitfo is a traditional ethiopian dish that is eaten at room temperature, which I enjoy SO much more than a cooler steak tartare (I had no idea until I'd had it this way). The spices and the browning butter smell incredible and waft through the kitchen: ginger and cardamom, chili and fenugreek.

I will confess that my only role in this meal was to discover Kitfo and pass along a few recipes. My Charming Companion actually cooked it, along with a really good (and super simple) cabbage side dish while I took a nap on the couch! The recipe here is a blend of several variations found from a search for kitfo recipes. Certainly any of them will be good, but below is the recipe as I ate it. Mine actually used the steak from a deer that was a really young fawn, so it was probably as tender as possibly available, which made this melt in my mouth. My Charming Companion's turmeric cabbage dish is also below. It used a bunch of green onions from the garden and went perfectly with the kitfo for a very ethiopian style dinner, sans the injera.

Kitfo
1 lb round steak
10 T (or one stick + 2 T) butter
1/3-1/2 c onions, chopped small
1/4 c red pepper, chopped small
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp chili flakes (or cayenne)
1/2 tsp fenugreek
pinch cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 T+ fresh lemon juice
2 T fresh chives, chopped
salt to taste

1. You want to serve your meat at room temperature, but it is easier to chop the meat when it is still a bit frozen. Ideally, you will chop the meat an hour or so before dinner: use a sharp knife and mince just as it is defrosting and still a little frozen. Let it sit out on the counter to fully defrost and get to room temp for dinner. If you don't have that kind of time, you can mince it at room temp and just have it be a little wily, or you can try to warm it very very slowly in a pan over low heat being careful not to cook it at all. (Some people do eat this slightly cooked, so you could do that if you prefer.)

Chopped raw steak!

2. Melt better on medium heat in a small saucepan. Once it is melted, add onion, red pepper and spices and let simmer 10-15 minutes. You want the butter to brown, basically as if you were making ghee with lots of stuff in it! Be sure to stir every so often.

Simmering spiced butter - smells SO good!

3. Add lemon juice and chives for the last couple of minutes. Stir butter mixture into your now room temp meat and serve!

Turmeric Cabbage
3 T coconut oil
1/3 head green cabbage, sliced/chopped thin
bunch of green onions, chopped
1 T turmeric
salt to taste

Melt coconut oil in large skillet. Once it is melted, add cabbage and sautee for 10 minutes on low heat. Add green onions and saute another few minutes before adding turmeric and salt. Stir to coat, and continue cooking another couple of minutes before serving.