Berbere, which means “hot” in Amharic, is an Ethiopian spice blend very common to Ethiopian cooking. Most of the heat comes from the fiery long red finger of dried chillies buried under heaps of other amazing spices.
Berbere is treated very much like an ‘all purpose’ seasoning, so it can be added to stews, vegetables, meat, fish and probably even rice as well.
As I carried out my research to find the most authentic blend, I soon realised, whichever combination I found, it would pretty much empty out my whole kitchen cupboard! I think I turned over every jar, bottle and cup that had spices in them. It actually felt good to use them again, some like fenugreek had barely been touched; and I was getting tired of the same old 1-2-3 combinations I’ve been falling back on for yonks (haven’t used that word in ages?!).
Doesn’t it look amazing! And it tastes absolutely delicious! You’ve basically cut your seasoning time down to less than a minute!
Ok let’s take a closer look:
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Cardamom
- Smoked Paprika
- Coriander Seeds
- Ginger
- Fenugreek Powder
- Pimento Seeds
- Onion Salt
- Nutmeg
- Chilli Flakes
Other recipes include garlic powder and black pepper.
Preparation
This really depends on you. I wanted something I could store in a jar and use whenever to spice up a dish. So I resorted to using powders with the following exceptions: fresh garlic, ginger, onion. Only because I’m use to adding these ingredients to a dish anyway.
So here are the measurements for a jar of berbere spice, most dishes only require 2 1/2 teaspoons of it:
Pleased to meet you 😊
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