Niter kibbeh, spiced Ethiopian butter, 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 kibbeh (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
African Recipes
Africa is a huge and diverse place, with countless cuisines. Here you will find a selection of African recipes ranging all over the continent, from North to South, and many places in between.
I have traveled in East and southern Africa and have worked as a chef at an Ethiopian restaurant here in the United States, so you will mostly see recipes from there, although I love the food from Ghana and Senegal, so there is a smattering of recipes from there, too.
Most African recipes require nothing unusual from an American supermarket, although in some cases, like Ethiopian and Ghanaian cuisine, there are a set of spices that, while not 100 percent necessary, are important to get the flavors right. I link to online sources for those spices in the individual posts.
Some of my favorite African recipes are Venison Stew Tunisian, Coconut Curry Chicken from Kenya, and Ethiopian Tibs, a sort of hybrid stew and stir fry.
The Latest
Berbere Spice Mix
Berbere spice mix is essential to Ethiopian cooking, along with the clarified spiced butter known as niter kebbeh. Berbere (ber-BERRY) is to Ethiopia what garam masala is to India. This is my berbere recipe. I learned this berbere recipe decades ago, while working as a sous chef at The Horn of Africa, an Ethiopian restaurant
Hunt Gather Talk: West African Seafood
In this episode, I talk with cookbook author Zoe Adjonyoh about her book Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, and the role of fish and seafood in West African cuisine. This is a cuisine you’ll want to get to know.
Bamia: Egyptian Okra and Meat Stew
An Egyptian and eastern Mediterranean style okra stew with meat and tomatoes. Bamia, or okra, has been eaten in Egypt since antiquity. I use venison as the meat here.
Okra Stew
A West African inspired okra stew recipe with tomatoes that’s great served on its own, or as a thick sauce over fish or game.
Venison Stew Tunisian Style
A North African-inspired venison stew with potatoes, onions, harissa and bay leaves. A good change of pace from the same ole same ole…
Ghanaian Palava Sauce
A thick stew of meat – venison here – and greens, tomato, chile and squash seeds, palaver is a popular dish in Ghana.
Butternut Squash Curry
This squash curry from Ethiopia shares many of the same elements as an Indian curry, but with a slightly different mix of spices.