ATAKILT WAT

This is such a warming dish.  Warms your insides. I love these heavily spiced dishes in the Autumn.  Its comfort food.  But its healthy.  You can skip the beans if you like.  If you have this dish at an Ethiopian restaurant, you probably won't find green beans in it.  Maybe, I dunno.  I haven't been to like a ton of Ethiopian places though.  

I will tell you about fenugreek.  I used to hate it.  It is also called methi (Indian).  It must be an acquired taste, was for me anyhow.  I love it now.  Just totally love it. It is very warming and has a super unique taste.  


ATAKILT WAT
Ethiopian Carrot, Potato and Cabbage

2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil or butter
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)

1/2 cup chopped onion 
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

3/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds 

1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1/8 teaspoon cloves powder

a generous dash of black pepper

3/4 cup sliced carrots

2 medium potatoes, chopped, 1.5 generous cups

2 cups of cabbage, finely chopped

2 cups green beans
1/2 tsp salt

In a large skillet, saute garlic, ginger, chili, and onion until fragrant in oil,about 5 minutes. 
Add cumin, turmeric, fenugreek seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper, cook for 2 minutes. Add the carrots, potato, beans and cabbage mix well. Add salt. Mix well, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Stir periodically. 

Taste and add salt and pepper as desired, a little more oil if needed. Mix in, reduce heat to low-medium. Cover and Cook for another 15 minutes or unti

Butternut Squash with Red Lentils

Easy, healthy and delicious.  Those are some key words for dinner ideas this time of year.  The last thing I want to do is be in the kitchen anymore than I have to.  Lots of Holiday baking.  This year and really last year I havent really done a lot of holiday baking.  So easy to eat too many cookies.  At least for me.  And the more decadent the cookie, the harder it is for me to resist.  Gingerbread cookies, while I love them are a little easier for me to resist then say chocolate mint crinkles. Goodness gracious.

Strategy:  Make less holiday cookies.  The ones I do make, bake them, eat two and freeze them right away.

On to the healthy food of the day.  Butternut Squash and Lentils, Ethiopian style.

This is niter kibbeh. Oh yeah!

Red Lentils and Butternut Squash 
The hardest part about this delicious Ethiopian style recipe is cutting the butternut squash.  Once you get that done, the meal will cook up in under 30 minutes. 

3 cups butternut squash, cubed
3 cups water
1 cup red lentils
2 tablespoons flavored niter kibbeh, find that recipe here or butter
1 medium onion
1 inch ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon turmeric


Saute onions in 1 tablespoon ghee until translucent.  Add garlic, cook one minute more.  Add water, lentils and spices. When the mixture comes to a boil add the squash.  Cover and cook until squash is tender.  Stir in remaining tablespoon of butter and serve.

Gomen Wat

We are still awaiting our beloved Ethiopian restaurant to reopen.  It closed a little over a year ago due to landlord issues.  They have relocated and hope to open soon but first they must filter through allthe red tape.  Dang, I miss their injera!

In the mean time, I must fend for myself trying to make something like the fabulous food they serve.

This recipe for Gomen wat was pretty good.  Its probably a lot less calories than the restaurant we go to.  I suspect they use a but more butter.  I did everything the same except that I added the seasoned butter, niter kibbeh and at the end I added 1/3 of a cup of heavy cream.

GOMEN WAT  Ethiopian Collard Greens

Recipe adapted from this recipe.

1 pound(s) collard greens (rinsed, trimmed, chopped)
2 cup(s) water
2 tablespoon(s) olive oil
3/4 cup(s) chopped onion
8 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon(s) lemon juice
1 teaspoon(s) salt
1 teaspoon(s) ground tumeric
1 teaspoon(s) paprika
1 teaspoon(s) allspice, ground
2 tablespoon(s) ginger root, minced

Place chopped collard greens in a pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover, and simmer until collards are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, but reserve the cooking water. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Stir in onions and cook until just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add the cooked collards, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and the reserved cooking water. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-high heat until liquid is nearly evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the lemon juice, salt, turmeric, paprika, allspice, and ginger root.Cook until everything is heated through. Add n

Gomen

My lunch.

My daughter's lunch.

Notice any differences?  Ah, yeah.  I hope one day our children eat like me and my husband.  Maybe not as much as my husband and I, but the quality of the food.  Not that hers is bad, its just that the vegetable quotient could be upped a bit  a lot!

After making the niter kibbeh, I made this lunch for myself.  I had previously boiled the collard greens, reserving the cooking liquid for soup.  For my lunch I cooked the drained greens in a tablespoon of niter kibbeh, along with a minced small onion. While I know a tablespoon of butter is a lot of fat and a 100 calories, the greens make up for this.  Wow, like total flavor experience.

You know when we go out for Ethiopian, I have to say that my favorite dishes are the vegetarian ones.  My husband usually has the raw beef.  (Totally grosses me out). I am all about the lentils, the collars, the tomatoes, all of that.  The Ethiopians have a great knack for making vegetables and legumes taste outstanding!

Gomen
recipe adapted from this recipe.

1 bunch collard greens
1 medium onion, chopped
a tablespoon or so of niter kebbeh
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the greens and drain.  Cut the coarse part off of the ends of the stems (about 1/2-1 inch). Chop the stems well and set aside. Chop the leaves coarsely and set aside.  In a pot, heat up niter kebbeh. Add the onion, chopped collard stems and some salt. Sauté until the onion turns clear and the chopped stem has softened.  Add the collard leaves and stir well. Cook until tender adding a small amount of water if necessary to help the greens steam. Keep covered for a while, stir and cover again, until softened to your liking.) Season with salt and pepper and arrange on injera with some other stews.

Niter Kibbeh, the cornerstone of Ethiopian Cuisine

In order to make some of my beloved Ethipian dishes, I first had to make this food love elixir, niter kibbeh.  As far as I am concerned this is the corner stone of many amazing Ethiopian dishes.  Since I am on a total Ethiopian food kick, I had to make it.  A few other things that I have to make too, which I will share as the next couple weeks roll on.  

Niter Kibbeh

Inspired by this post at Serious Eats

1 pound of butter

2 3 inch cinnamon sticks

2 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon fenugreek ( I used to no like this- I am slowly acquiring a taste for it)

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

8 green cardamon pods

6 cloves garlic

1 small onion, minced

1 inch piece of ginger

In a saucepan, slowly melt butter.  Add in 2 whole cloves, bay leaves, garlic, onion, ginger and cinnamon. While that is going, in a frying pan toast coriander, fenugreek and cardamon. Once fragrant, remove from heat and add to butter mixture.  Keep this on the burner, flame very low.  You want this to be a really slow process.  After about an hour or more, the solids will turn a light golden color.  At this point it is ready.

Strain the solids through cheesecloth and strainer.  Once strained ball up the spices in the cheesecloth and give a gentle squeeze.

There you have a really powerful, flavorful start to many dishes.  Heck you could even fry an egg in this amazing liquid.  Yum!

Note:  If you decide to taste some of the used spices after the draining, you will find they are a bit bitter.

Yellow Split Pea Stew

The last four times my husband and I have been out to eat we went to a local Ethiopian restaurant.  Injera, which truly draws me to the place, along with healthy, nutritious, supremely tasty food, is truly an addiction.  There is something so amazing about injera.  I want to make it.  Mostly because I do want to try some other restaurants around town but I simply can not give up this Ethiopian kick.  I bought the teff flour and I have a recipe so I am so close to making it.  Along the way though I thought I'd try some of the dishes I really enjoy, here's one.

Yellow Split Pea Stew or Kik Alicha
Adapted from this recipe.

3 cups water
1 cup dried yellow split peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced jalapeno
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1 inch-long piece fresh ginger, peeled,
finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt

Place 3 cups of the water and the peas in large saucepan. Heat over high heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium; cook until almost tender, about 20 minutes.

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat; cook onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, jalapeno and turmeric; cook 1 minute more.

Add a little water if necessary; cover. Cook on low heat 3 minutes. Add mixture to cooked peas; stir in salt. Simmer until peas are very soft, about 30 minutes. Taste; adjust seasonings.

Shro Wat... Adventures in Eating

A couple weeks ago my husband and I went out for a 'date'. He wanted to go to this Ethiopian restaurant, Abyssnia, that he had tried with some coworkers for lunch. I have had the Ethiopian style beans at another restaurant. They did not have tefff with it though. Mainly because even though The Natural Eatery is owned by Ethiopian people and there is Ethiopian food- it is more about vegetables and local fresh produce. This other place Abyssnia- is really about Ethiopian food. Since I have never tried teff before I was a bit ambivalent about going. This is not like me, you see, I am more of an adventure eater and really prefer ethnic dishes rather than American dishes. I went anyway.

Really, it was darn good move on my part. An excellent suggestion on my husbands part. The food there was delicious. Like, over the top delicious. I am not an expert on Ethiopian food but I sure am an expert on what tastes good to me and this food ROCKED the house. I am so in love with injera now, I am waiting with baited breath to go back again.

There was a side of these amazing creamy vegetables, the brown lentil beans, misr wat, that I had made before (see here) and a yellow lentil bean. Then I had a lamb type stew dish that was really good. But honestly I was really gung ho about the beans and the veggies. I did make a vegetable dish a few days after that experience that was close to what I had at the restaurant. If any of you have or know of such a recipe for these Ethiopian style vegetables- I would so love to know about it.

And of course my husband, being the really daring eater that he is, had a raw beef dish. Similar to steak tartar I guess. I just couldnt do it. I could not bring myself to eat it. Maybe next time.

After a thorough investigation of Ethiopian recipes on the web- I decided to make this dish. Sounded kind of interesting. While it will not win any beauty awards- it sure was delicious. The recipe really had me when it said I have peanut butter AND butternut squash in the same bowl.

Shro Wat
based on this recipe at Ethiopian Recipes

1/2 lb butternut squash, cubed
1 jar (32 ounces) stewed tomatoes
2 teaspoons berbere, powder
1 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup corn kernel
2 tablespoons peanut oil
salt
pepper

In a large saucepan, brown the onion in the oil, then add the garlic and the berbere powder and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, peanut butter and tomato paste and stir until sauce is smooth.

Bring to a simmer and cook, covered, for 30-45 minutes. During this time, stir every so often and add more water as needed. Towards the end of the cooking time add the corn.

At the end of cooking if the sauce is too thick, add more water; if too thin, boil to reduce. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and serve.

Ethiopian Beans and Berbere

I was introduced to this soup or stew or even curry when I visited a local restaurant called Natural Oasis. The restaurant is small but what they lack in quantity they more than make up in quality. It is a farm to table concept that was started by an Ethiopian couple. The chef is a young guy who frequently wonders out of the kitchen to stop at your table and ask how you are enjoying the food. After one bite of this amazing soup I knew I had to find the recipe and recreate it.

This is a warm and inviting "stew" that invites you in and says "sit down, relax, stay a while." You will really enjoy this stew if you like the spices in berbere.

Ethiopian Beans aka Misr Wot
adapted from this recipe at Saveur

1 cup red lentils
4 tbsp. nit'r qibe (Ethiopian Spiced Butter) or unsalted butter
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp. berbere (Ethiopian Spice Mix)
1 small tomato, cored and chopped
Kosher salt, to taste

Rinse the lentils until the water runs clear- set aside. Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the lentils, 1 tbsp. of the berbere, tomato, and 4 cups water to the saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick and the lentils are tender, 45–50 minutes. Stir in the remaining berbere and season generously with salt. Serve immediately.

Berbere Spice Mix
adapted from this recipe at Saveur

2 tsp. coriander seeds
1⁄2 tsp. black peppercorns
1⁄4 tsp. whole allspice
6 white cardamom pods
4 whole cloves
1⁄2 cup dried onion flakes
5 dried chiles de árbol, stemmed, seeded, and broken into small pieces
3 tbsp. paprika
2 tsp. kosher salt
1⁄2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon

In a small skillet, combine coriander seeds, black peppercorns, allspice, cardamom pods, and cloves. Toast spices over medium heat, swirling skillet constantly, until fragrant, about 4 minutes. Let cool and transfer to a spice grinder along with onion flakes and grind until fine. Add chiles, and grind with the other spices until fine.
In a large bowl stir in the remainder of ingredients- paprika, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon. Store in a lidded glass jar.