Shiro Powder

A few years back I spent some time in a kitchen in Brooklyn learning Ethiopian cooking, at a small, authentic restaurant called Bati in Fort Greene (I highly recommend it!). The chef there “mama” (which is exactly what I called her…) showed me dish after dish, albeit speaking in Amharic, and I followed along as best as I could – watching, tasting, smelling, feeling (and googling where otherwise stumped!). It was quite an education, and I felt incredibly fortunate to be grounded in the true tradition of this cuisine – from the fermentation of their bread, injera, to learning how to perfect kitfo, a luscious, warm steak tartare, to savouring the gorgeous vegetarian stews, shiro being my favorite.

Shiro is a staple, Ethiopian stew that’s made from peas, lentils, and chickpeas that are dried and ground into a fine powder, shiro powder. The flavor is rich, spiced and nutty, and the shiro powder comes blended with a ton of spices and herbs – fenugreek, cardamom, and sacred basil to name a few – as well as dried garlic and ginger. The stew consists of sautéed red onions, garlic, water, shiro powder and some green peppers, and occasionally is finished with a spiced, clarified butter, which is one of my favorite ingredients in the world. Easy to make and imparts everything you cook in it with rich flavor….

This is the time of year where the cold weather makes you just want to curl up with a nice soup or stew over rice, and I love this ingredient because it’s low maintenance, already has a ton of spices in it, and can easily thicken up and flavor most soups you have out there. This is such a great ingredient for vegans to incorporate because of its protein levels and makes a quick meal because all of the lentils are powdered. I like to do a nice, creamy cauliflower soup and throw this in; it’s used to thicken up beef stews in Ethiopia as well so I have added it to a basic bowl of chili. Feel free to use your imagination!

Berbere-Spiced Lamb Chops

So I made this recipe (1) because it tastes ridiculously good, (2) because I’m also doing these for my holiday party this week so thought I would kill 2 birds with 1 stone and (3) because I thought I might be able to come up with an adequate substitute for berbere for those with limited access to ethnic food stores. #3 is giving me a really hard time.

Berbere is a key ingredient in Ethiopian cooking. It gives their stews that blood-red color and signature spiced flavor. Berbere comes in a ground form that’s a complex blend of dried chilies, garlic, ginger and red onion with such spices as fenugreek, ajwain, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, black pepper, turmeric…Sometimes it’s mixed with red wine to form a paste. Like masala, it’s a subjective blend, and I am still perfecting mine…

Berbere as a dry rub on lamb chops is just heavenly. This dish is truly elegant and sinfully easy to make, particularly for a party. The chops come out a bit charred with a smoky, red pepper flavor, a bit garlicky with hints of the spice blend. I gave a quick and dirty substitute (without measurements) below, but I would advise going and tasting the real thing. Either pick up a packet of the spice at a local ethnic store or online or even walk into an Ethiopian restaurant and ask for a bit to try. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 tsps berbere*

½ tsp ground mustard

¼ tsp finely ground black pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

kosher salt

1 rack of lamb, frenched and cut into single or double chops

olive oil

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Combine berbere, ground mustard, pepper, and garlic powder. Rub onto chops. Season both sides with salt as desired. Let chops sit for about a half hour until they come up to room temperature.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add enough olive oil to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Place chops in pan and cook 4 minutes each side for double chops and 2 to 3 minutes each side for single chops for medium rare.

Finish in the oven to desired level of doneness.

*To approximate, start with dried New Mexican chilies, which are a great base for the blend. I would seed and rib and then blend to a powder. Mix with a touch of paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, fenugreek, cumin, coriander, cardamom, black pepper, and ajwain if you have it. Good luck!

Warm Ethiopian Steak Tartare

When I go out to eat, typically, my eyes are way bigger than my stomach. I have to control my (over)ordering and have this mildly obsessive habit of going through each menu item and doing a process of elimination. It’s never about what I want to eat, but rather, what I DON’T want to eat…Steak tartare almost never makes the cut. It always seems like a bland caloric waste when there are other tastier options to choose from. That is, until I tasted kitfo.

Kitfo happens to be one of Ethiopia’s most popular dishes. It’s a steak tartare that has been warmed in butter infused with a bunch of spices – amazing. It’s typically served with the country’s famous flatbread, injera, and a side of spiced collards. The first time I tried it, I was in sensory overload. The warm creaminess of the butter, the texture of the meat, the strong heat hitting me at the back of my tongue, the spice combo – it was, by far, the most delicious and unexpected steak tartare I had ever had.

For my version, I used top round from Dickson Farmstand Meats. All of their beef is dry-aged, all natural, humanely raised – basically fantastic quality. For working with a raw product like this, I wanted to make sure I was using a high quality source. They coarse ground the top round for me, and I would never advise using ground beef for a raw application. Ground beef has a higher bacterial count; you’re better off using a steak you’d feel comfortable eating rare and grinding as close to consumption as possible. I chose top round over sirloin or tenderloin because it keeps a great texture. It stays a bit toothsome and doesn’t become mushy, which I can’t stand.

This dish is extremely easy to make, and there are limited ingredients. So it’s important to develop the flavors. Mine differs from authentic kitfo with the addition of shallots and garlic and because I like to toast up the spices first in the butter. Browning the butter, making beurre noisette, adds even greater complexity. I typically serve this on a sliced baguette sprinkled with chives, but it would be equally delicious on toast or pita points. Oh, and Ethiopians eat the tartare several different ways –t’ire (raw) or leb leb (medium rare) and sometimes cooked further, so go ahead and cook to your preference. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

1 stick butter

¼ tsp cardamom, ground

½ tsp black pepper, finely ground

1 ½ tsps cayenne pepper, ground

1 shallot, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb top round, freshly ground to your desired texture

Salt to taste

Chives, minced

Procedure

Let the beef come to room temperature. Adding it to the pot cold brings down the temperature of the butter and would necessitate reheating, which could then overcook the beef.

Heat butter on low-medium heat. When it melts add the cardamom, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cook stirring for a few minutes and notice how the smell becomes nuttier. Add the shallots and garlic and cook another few minutes until softened. Butter should brown, and this is actually desired. Crank the heat a little if it hasn’t.

Let the butter cool slightly. You should be able to dip your finger in the pot without burning yourself. Add beef and stir to combine thoroughly. You don’t want to cook the meat (if serving rare), just warm through, so make sure the heat is off. Add salt to taste and serve sprinkled with chives. You won’t be disappointed.

Ethiopian Nit'ir Qibe

Ethiopian Nit’ir Qibe

When I saw this article on ghee, I thought it might be interesting to talk about how to clarify butter. Clarified butter has long been synonymous with traditional Indian cooking, a delicious form of fat in which to fry up spices or brown onions. What was interesting in the article, though, was the inclusion of the spices in the bottled ghees, not typically done in an Indian household. Spicing clarified butter is actually an Ethiopian tradition, the resulting fat called nit’ir qibe.

Clarifying butter is relatively simple; butter is cooked at a low temperature until all of the water has evaporated and the milk solids have settled at the bottom. Decanted or strained, this liquid now becomes an excellent cooking agent, which, unlike whole butter, can withstand high temperature cooking (and is also great for dairy intolerance since almost all of the milk solids are gone).

In nit’ir qibe, butter is slowly melted. Once the foam subsides, certain herbs and spices are added and gently cooked in the butter at a low temperature for about 20 minutes. The clarified butter starts to take on the character of the spices, infused and aromatic – it’s completely delicious. The smell alone as I make it drives me nuts. It also keeps incredibly well, lasting in a sealed container in the fridge for about a month.

Garlic, ginger, fenugreek, turmeric, cardamom, sacred basil…all of these are typical in a spiced Ethiopian butter. Sometimes red onions are included, sometimes not. I’ve also seen dried oregano in certain homemade versions. This is again one of those traditions that differs from household to household – the secret recipe guarded for only the cook in the house to know.

Unlike ghee, this delicate and expensive infusion is not used for sauté purposes. It’s actually a finishing agent, added to an Ethiopian stew at the end of the cooking process to elevate and warm the flavor. I love to do a simply seared fish and spoon a bit of nit’ir qibe on top to lightly spice it. And that’s the beautiful thing about this: if you aren’t in the mood for something heavily spiced, this is a more subtle approach.

Lovely on plain rice. Warmed, a decadent dip for shellfish. Delicious on morning breakfast toast. Bumps up a grilled steak. The uses are endless…

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Shiro Powder

Berbere-Spiced Lamb Chops

Warm Ethiopian Steak Tartare

Ethiopian Nit’ir Qibe