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Berberé (pronounced ber-ber-ray) originates from Ethiopia. It is a very hot dry spice mix and has become the basis for most Ethiopian cuisine. It should have a course texture, so don’t grind it to a fine powder.
It can be used as a powder, but is often make into a paste or sauce (Berbere Awaze) with the addition of oil, wine or water. None of the recipes I have seen are alike, each having there own special ingredients. I have tried to make a list of the most common ingredients and left the others as optional, as with most good recipe ideas, you can experiment and make this your own.
Ingredients
1 tsp Allspice berries
3 tsp Cardamom pods
16-20 Cloves
4-5 tsp Fenugreek seeds
2 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
4-5 tsp Cayenne Pepper powder
1 tsp Salt
Optional Ingredients
Cinnamon, Coriander, Cumin, Nutmeg, Thyme, Ginger, Onions, Oil, Paprika, Wine, Water
Dry fry all the whole spices for a few minutes this will help release the natural oils and flavours. Remember to keep them moving all the time we don’t want them to burn.
Let them cool and then grind in a pestle and mortar or blender, adding the salt, turmeric and cayenne a little at a time. The dry form of Berberé should be stored in the fridge in an airtight container until needed.
To make this into a paste add fresh ingredients such as finely chopped onions, ginger and oil, water or wine and blend to a fine paste. Again store in an airtight container in the fridge, with a little oil poured over the top. This will keep the air out and help it keep longer.
A common use for Berberé is as a condiment to dip bread into. It can also be used as a marinade, either wet or dry, for chicken before roasting, it is also the basic ingredient in the dishes Dabo Kolo and Doro Wat.
You can buy excellent reay made Berberé from:- Seasoned Pioneers and Stennbergs Organic.
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This is a simple recipe, as you will see exact quantities are not essential when cooking, please feel free to use what you have got, we have added some estimates of the quantities used to help.
We have added some notes at the end of the recipe that we have found useful when cooking in a wok.
Ingredients
- Mr Singh’s Hot Sauce
- 1/2 pack Baby Spinach
- 300g Cooked Prawns
- 2 -3 cloves garlic
- 4 Shallots/Small Onions
- ¼ Head Broccoli
- 2-3 Carrots
- 5-6 Baby Sweet Corn
- 5-10 Sugar Span Peas
- Olive Oil
- Runny Honey
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Prepare the vegetables, to cook quickly they will need to be finely chopped.
Heat Wok on a high heat, add olive oil and then the garlic and shallots/onions, and keep them moving in the hot oil so they do not stick and burn when they have started to cook, add the prawns, and stir well for 30 second, now is the time to add the Mr Singh’s sauce (a good glug would be the technical term) you can always add more, it is hard to remove.
After a few minutes add all the veg except the spinach and cook for a further 3-4 minutes, adding salt to taste. Finally add the spinach and cook for a few moments, then quickly serve, the heat from the other ingredient will continue cooking the spinach.
When on the plate you can drizzle a little runny honey over it, we would expect this to serve 1-2 people as a main meal.
You can see this and more recipes at www.mrsinghssauce.co.uk
Notes:-
If the pan is getting dry, add a little water around the edge of the pan, this will help deglaze the pan and also release the cooking oil from the ingredients.
If you find the veg is a little under cooked for you preference, you could add the vegetables before the prawns
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