I guess, with a little effort, I could have located some berbere spice but it seemed easier just to make my own spice blend substitute. It's just a mix of cumin, cardamom, all spice, fenugreek, coriander powder, clove, black pepper, chilli flakes, ginger powder, turmeric, salt, paprika and cinnamon - phew...
One of the things that most appealed to me about this dish is the huge quantity of onions required - I reduced the recipe by half and still had to chop 1 1/2 kilos of onions - good thing we now have a mandolin.
The huge quantity of onions is cooked (without oil) on a low heat for an hour, then oil is added, along with a healthy dose of the berbere (substitute) and niter kibbeh (a spiced clarified butter - I just used ghee - don't worry, there are more spiced to come). Once that mix had simmered for a while I added a blend of cardamom seed, nigella seed, fennel seeds, black pepper corns and salt (another omission was dried African basil). After all that the chicken is added, I broke down a little one and soaked it in a vinegar/lemon juice blend as directed. Once the chicken was cooked I then added some boiled eggs that had been scored to allow the flavour to penetrate.
I had planned to make some injera bread to go with the chicken but I forgot to start preparing it 2 days prior to serving so I substituted with Turkish bread.
The chicken was good - the sauce was a little less thick than I had expected and I managed to spill most of it over my shirt front.
1 comment:
This was good, the eggs were excellent. 'Traditionally served at room temperature' was a bit of a challange for me. Heat sure does equal flavour. But, excellent to try something new.
Post a Comment