Ethiopian Cuisine and Berbere Spice Mix

besan flour crepe
I enjoy making meals from different cuisines, and I am glad I checked out the Traditional Ethiopian Cuisine for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner by Konjit Zewge. This book translated by Konjit's daughter, shares traditional methods of preparing Ethiopian cuisine.
Although, this book is an inspiration I was not able to try many of the recipes because of the lack of images, substitution for the ingredients, and recipe for basic condiments missing. There are recipes to make bread, meat, and legumes in the book. This book is more suited for those familiar with the cuisine. 

I tried the Garbanzo Flour Pita from this book.
1/2 cup garbanzo / chickpeas / besan flour
1 tsp Berbere powder
2 tsp oil
3/4 cup water
salt to taste I put about 1/2 tsp

Mix all the ingredients together to make a crepe batter. Heat a frying pan on medium heat and when the pan is warm pour the mixture and spread it to the edge of the pan similar to crepe. Cook both sides until it is crispy. This crepe can be served as a snack or with legume or meat dishes. If you are not a fan of besan flour, this is not for you :) it is tasty when it is freshly made and warm. 
Berbere Spice Mix
Here is the recipe to make the dry Berbere spice mix.
1/2 tsp allspice
4 cardamom
1" stick cinnamon
3 cloves
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
4 tbsp combination of pepper depending on taste and the strength of the chillies (dried chillie flakes, paprika, cayenne)
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp dried ginger
1 tsp minced dried garlic
Berbere Spice Mix
In a skillet over medium heat, dry roast by moving the spices with a spoon so it does not burn the spices. Remove from heat when you can smell the aroma and the spices look lightly roasted. When the spices cool, grind it until it is fine. Store the spices in an air tight container.
If you want to make Berbere paste, mix it with 1/4 cup water.

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4 comments:

  1. Can't wait to give this a try. I love most of the spices used.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The smell of that spice mix must be wonderful! So many flavourful spices.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I made a delicious French bread with garbanzo flour---so tasty! Yours looks wonderful, too, and I can only imagine the lovely aroma of that spice mixture!

    ReplyDelete

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