Ethiopian Beef Tibs
We had lots of folks over last night to share an Ethiopian meal. If you are a germ-a-phobe, sharing an Ethiopian meal may not be as appealing to you. Traditionally everyone sits around a single large platter of injera, a sour bread made of teff, piled with various meat and vegetable dishes and eats with their hands. You could serve everything on individual plates but I think you would be missing out in the experience.
Ethiopian food requires some special ingredients. If you live in Houston, you can find most of those at Maru Grocery on Bissonnet. It isn’t a large grocery but you can get injera, berbere paste and powder, ethiopian flags, and tourist t-shirts. If you just need to pick up some injera or large serving platters, head to Jerusalem Halal on Hillcroft. If you keep driving South past Westpark Tollway, you will find a stretch of Indian grocers with an excellent selection of spices at a much more reasonable price than large grocery stores like HEB or Kroger.
Now for the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs Beef Cubes (I prefer to get a round roast rather than stew meat.)
- 1 Onion, Thinly Sliced
- 4-6 T Niter Kebbeh
- 2 tsp Berbere
- ½ tsp Cardamon
- ½ tsp Ginger
- ¼ tsp Black cumin
- ¼ tsp Cloves
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ½ C Red Wine
- 1 ½ C Beef Stock
- 1 14oz. Can of Diced Tomatoes
Directions:
- Cook the onions in dry pan until golden. Add niter kebbeh. Cook a couple of minutes.
- Add the berbere, wine, and tomatoes. Cook a couple of more minutes. The berbere is what gives it heat, so test it as you add each tablespoon to make sure you aren’t overdoing it.
- While you are working on the onion mixture, brown beef in separate pan on very high heat until any liquid evaporates.
- Add beef to onion mixture and stir. Add beef stock, spices and salt.
- Simmer on low for about 30-40 minutes. Sauce should thicken up a little.
- Allow to cool for about 7 minutes before serving. As it cools, the sauce will thicken more.
- Place one piece of injera on a platter and put tibbs on top. Serve with more rolled injera.
Hint: It is much easier to remove an individual piece of injera from its stack by rolling it starting from one edge.
Have fun and enjoy. If you have questions, feel free to respond.