The spice blend Berbere (when the Ethiopians say it, it sounds like “Barbara”) seems to define the Ethiopian stew called wat. According to Wikipedia Berbere contains: chili peppers, garlic, ginger, dried basil, korarima, rue, ajwain or radhuni, nigella, and fenugreek. A couple of these spices are hard to acquire outside of Africa.
Karl’s Berbere Ethiopian Spice Blend
Filed under Sauces and Spices
adapted from under12parsecs
Niter Kibbeh is a key ingredient in many Ethiopean dishes. I suspect that the clarifying process and spices were meant to keep the butter from going bad in Ethiopia’s hot climate before refrigeration. I made this the day before, so that it would be ready when I started cooking my feast. I will be using this ingredient in my doro wat, shiro wat, and abesha gomen.
Filed under Other, Sauces and Spices
Adapted from Esther’s Ethiopische recepten
Jan is always pushing me to have more green vegetables. Last week’s Cajun collard greens went over very well with my family. When I discovered that collard greens were a standard Ethiopian dish I had to include it in my feast.
Karl’s Abesha Gomen
Ethiopian Collard Greens
(at 9 and 2)
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Adapted from a recipe posted by: jrt
Is one of those catch all names for a legume stew. It can be made with chickpeas, fava beans, green peas, yellow lentils, red lentils or any combination of these. You roast and grind the legumes into flour. If you buy it (like I did) it comes as either plain (shiro alecha) or pre-spiced with Berbere (mit’in shiro). When you add it to the other ingredients it cooks quickly into a thick stew.
Karl’s Shiro Wat
Ethiopian Legume Stew
(at 11 and 5)
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches, Vegan
Adapted from Ethiopian Food
A cool salad is the perfect counter point to all of the spicy stews and is the standard complementary dish for an Ethiopian feast. It may not be “Ethiopian,” but this salad cries out for garlic and just a bit of spice.
Karl’s Timitam Salata
Ethiopian Tomato Salad
(at 1 and 7)
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Jan really loves turkey and she has been running her legs off at work (literally, yesterday she walked 7 miles back and forth across campus, as recorded by her Fitbit). I decided to surprise her tonight with roasted turkey, stuffing and green beans, but I wanted to keep it to a weekday’s level of effort.
Karl’s Weekday Thanksgiving
Filed under bread, Main Dishes, Poultry, Sauces and Spices, Side Dishes, Vegetables
I lived on the West Bank of New Orleans (Gretna) for a couple of years in the 70’s. I have eaten my fair share of real Cajun food, and I have a good idea what it should taste like. If I am just cooking a dish for a weekday meal I will usually just use a Paul Prudhomme’s “Magic” blend. One thing I will not be doing is using the Prudhomme recipe I saw him make on TV one time. While I am sure it was delicious, I am too much of a Californian to follow a recipe that starts, “when the two pounds of butter has stopped frothing, add the three cups of onions.”
Karl’s Cajun Spice Blend
Filed under Other, Sauces and Spices
Adapted from Jolinda Hackett, About.com Guide
For this Sunday’s feast I am making Jambalaya. Jambalaya is really a one pot meal, but it is heavy on the meats and starch. I wanted a green vegetable side dish to balance out my meal. Jan and I are in complete agreement about okra. It may be one of the classic Cajun/Southern vegetables, but despite our Southern roots (Virginia and Mississippi) we both dislike it. Many of the things calling themselves “Cajun vegetables” on the internet were just regular veggies with some Cajun spice thrown on top. I finally decided on collard greens, another classic Southern vegetable. I would not, however be cooking it in the Southern fashion, the way our mothers did, boiling it down to a sludge. California-Style, braising until just tender, is my plan, with a little red pepper for color.
Karl’s Braised Cajun Collard Greens
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
In the 1970’s I was working for a diving company based in Belle Chasse, LA. I have been thinking about that time lately (it probably has something to do with Lent and Mardi Gras). I can’t think about N’Orl’ns (one word) without thinking about the food. For two years I lived off of Muffulettas, Shrimp Etouffee, boiled crawfish, and Jambalaya. I have had a sudden desire for the flavor. Louisiana food generally falls into two main cuisines Creole and Cajun, which roughly corresponds to city and country.
Karl’s Cajun Jambalaya
Filed under Main Dishes, Pork, Poultry, Seafood
I overslept today, so Jan invaded my kitchen. Jan loves to tweak her anthropology student’s by telling them that the kitchen in our house is a very gendered space. They all go “yeah, yeah, of course that’s right.” Then she drops the punch line, “No Women Allowed!”
Jan’s Muesli Cinnamon Swirl Mini-Muffins
This morning Jan had a hankering for Schat’s Bakery Cinnamon twists. Jan’s parents were living in Lone Pine when she was born and she has taken many field classes through Eastern California, so Schat’s has a very special place in her heart. It is not the gooey sweetness she misses, but the bite of the amount of cinnamon that they use. Most bakeries and recipes are very shy in their use of cinnamon. Jan wanted the spicy heat of the cinnamon, but she did not want it to be drowned out by the sugar. She also wanted to make it healthier, but still to be like muffin Red Hots.
Filed under bread, Breakfast, Side Dishes, Starches
karllueck
Miriam
