This is not so much a sauce as a cooking medium, although it does make an intriguing simple sauce for pheasant, quail or white fish. Niter Kebbeh (NIT-r KEB-beh) is the aromatic, clarified butter we cooked with at the Eritrean restaurant Horn of Africa I worked at in Madison many years ago. We had a giant tub of it and would make it by the kilo every month or so.
Eritrea, in case you don’t know, is a country along the Red Sea that was once part of Ethiopia; its cooking is very similar. Exact recipes for Ethiopian standards don’t exist, so it’s like curry or a Bolognese sauce — every cook has her own recipe. The recipe that follows is mine, but you can find other equally authentic ones.
Our niter kebbeh at the restaurant absolutely required four things (other than butter): minced shallots, toasted cardamom, fenugreek and turmeric. Oh, and one other thing — time. Slow cooking is essential to this concoction.
Makes about 2 cups
- 1 pound unsalted butter
- 2 minced shallots, about 1/4 cup
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
- 12-15 crushed cardamom pods
- 2-3 whole cloves
- A cinnamon stick
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
- Toast the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon in a dry pan over medium heat until they are aromatic.
- Cut the butter into cubes.
- Toss everything into a heavy pot and turn the heat on low. Let this come to a bare simmer and cook for at least 30 minutes. We cooked ours at least an hour. It is vital that the milk solids DO NOT BURN. If they do, you have ruined the butter. Watch for browning, and when you see it, turn off the heat.
- Strain through cheesecloth and store in a clean glass jar. It’ll last 6 months in the fridge, at least a week on the counter, and forever in the freezer.
Firstly I love your blog, I grew up hunting, fishing & camping. Now I garden.
I was so excited to see your take on Ethiopian food as I recently watched an episode of Food Safari covering this cuisine & was hoping to find some recipes. I had forgotten about it until now.
Thankyou.
You can buy Niter Kibbeh now at http://www.yagermoya.com. I have trued it and it great. You don’t have to hassle to find the right ingredients to make it yourself.
Samson: Thanks for the tip on the store-bought niter kibbeh, and if you could not find the ingredients by all means use it — but they are not hard to find in most cities, and making it yourself allows you to adjust the seasonings.
Everyone makes niter kibbeh in a slightly different way in Ethiopia. Including the recipe helps people take the butter in their own direction.
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Vegans and those who prefer oil to butter in their cooking can make this recipe using the same amount of oil by volume (2 cups or 16 fl oz).
I make spiced oil for my Ethiopian cooking; the ingredients are the same as yours but with different proportions and I use basil instead of oregano. My mum sent me the link to your site, raving about your King Oyster Mushroom recipe which she made using my spiced oil. Cheers!