Ethiopian Kitfo

Serves 4

Ethiopian food has to be one of the most under-rated cuisines. Made up of tangy, spiced  lentil and chicken stews served on a delicious sourdough crepe called ‘injera’, it is one of my absolute favourites.

Kitfo is a traditional Ethiopian dish of raw beef tossed very quickly in spiced clarified butter and served with a tear-jerkingly hot chile powder called Mit’mila. In Addis Ababa kitfo lovers congregate at one of the city’s tiny butchers shacks where men in blood-stained aprons prepare this to order for you to enjoy sitting at the foldout tables and rusty chairs outside.
If you like steak tartare and spicy food, please do try this recipe. There are a few steps involved in preparing the clarified butter but if you have a mortar and pestle it will go fairly quickly. If you are a true chile field - try and get hold of Naga Jolokia chilies from India. They are the world’s hottest!

Ingredients

600 grams flank steak, trimmed of all fat and minced finely by hand

Spiced Clarified Butter (Nit’r Qibe)

175 grams unsalted butter
2 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp black onion or Nigella seeds

Mit’mita

a small handful of the hottest, dried red chilies that you can find, seeded
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

First make the spiced butter by placing the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. As the butter melts and begins to warm, skim off the foam that develops on the top. Continue to heat very gently, skimming away the foam for 30 minutes or until the butter has separated into a clear golden layer on the top and a milky layer on the bottom.

Carefully pour the clear layer on the top through a layer of muslin cloth, leaving the murky solids behind in the pan. Discard the milk solids.

Toast the cardamom pods, fenugreek seeds and black onion seeds in a dry frying pan over low heat for 4-5 minutes or until fragrant. Press down on the cardamom pods to crack them slightly and remove the black inner seeds, then grind them along with the fenugreek and onion seeds in a mortar and pestle to a fine powder, discarding the green cardamom husks. Stir the spices through the clarified butter and set aside.

To make the mit’mita, place the seeded chilies, mustard seeds and salt in a mortar and pestle and grind to a very fine powder. Set aside.

Warm the spiced butter in a wide frying pan over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted add the beef and toss it in the butter for no more than 30 seconds, just to warm the meat but without taking on any colour.

Divide the meat between serving plates and serve immediately. Diners should either dip their meat into the mit’mila or scatter the powder overtop.

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Jennifer Klinec from Eat Drink Talk has kindly agreed to provide Urban Junkies readers with mouthwatering recipes and foodtips.

To learn more, classes at Eat Drink Talk are held in Jennifer's beautiful loft in Clerkenwell, packed with information and useful tips, and you'll get to sample all of the delicious dishes prepared during class.

 

by JK

In collaboration with Eat Drink Talk

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.