6 Easy Ethiopian Recipes to Make With One Simple Spice Blend
Berbere is the most flavorful, aromatic spice blend you've never tried. And that's a shame because it is so incredibly versatile. If you have 5 minutes to spare and a love of spicy foods, whisk up your own batch of Berbere Spice Blend.
Berbere (pronounced something like "bayah-bayah") is an Ethiopian spice blend made with chile powders, fenugreek, paprika, ginger, coriander, and other ground spices. It's the key to so many flavorful Ethiopian dishes.
It's delicious for simply seasoning chicken, pork, lamb, tofu, or even cauliflower steaks, and it also adds crazy depth to lentil stews and spicy red sauces. Basically, you'll love this versatile spice blend in any recipe that calls for chile powder, paprika, curry powder, or Cajun spices.
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Doro Wat: Ethiopian Chicken Dish
Cubes of chicken are seasoned with berbere and simmered in a tomato paste, water, and wine sauce. "Typically served with injera and some side vegetable dish," says Twin Cities. "I prefer Atkilt, a cabbage and potato dish, but there are many delicious options."
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Berbere Spiced Chicken Breasts
For the berbere spice blend, Chef John is using three kinds of chile powder, including ground New Mexico chile, a medium-spicy pepper with a sweet, earthy flavor. Ancho or California chiles would also work. "Authentic berbere spice would use whole spice seeds/pods, toasted, and ground," says Chef John. "But I usually toast the spices during the cooking process."
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Injera (Ethiopian Flat Bread)
"This is the staple bread of Ethiopia," says MyPlate. "It is traditionally made with teff, a very finely milled millet flour. Regular millet flour from a health food store will work fine. Use this bread to sop up the flavors of spicy stews."
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Ethiopian Cabbage and Potato Dish (Atkilt)
"This is my favorite Ethiopian vegetable dish," says Twin Cities. "I created it by mixing together a few different recipes I found. Hope you like it! Serve as a side dish with injera and other Ethiopian dishes. I recommend Doro Wat - an Ethiopian chicken dish."
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Kik Wat (Ethiopian Red Lentil Stew)
A quick and easy Ethiopian red lentil stew, seasoned with berbere, served with rice. "Phenomenal!" raves Isis Charise. "I tried a bunch of Ethiopian dishes including meat dishes and this was by far the winner of the bunch. This recipe made a LOT of food... The good thing about making this quantity is that it freezes well and is even more delicious when you go back to it."
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Gomen Wat (Ethiopian Vegetables)
A fragrant take on a traditional Ethiopian vegetarian dish, collard greens are well-seasoned with turmeric, paprika, allspice, and ginger. "I made this exactly as the recipe called for and it was surprisingly delicious and to my utter astonishment my very picky nine year old gobbled it down and asked for seconds," says JC Hurst. "My whole family loves this recipe, and now I have a recipe for all those collard greens I planted this year."