Awaze (Ethiopian Chilli Dip)

Awaze is the Ethiopian red chilli paste, built on berbere and loosened with an alcoholic liquid into a thick dip. It is extremely hot, it takes five minutes to make, and it goes with almost everything on an Ethiopian table. Berbere is what it is built on, and berbere is itself a blend: dried chillies, garlic, ginger, onion, rue seeds, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. Awaze takes that and turns it into something spoonable. The liquid matters more than it sounds. Traditionally it is tej, the Ethiopian honey wine made with gesho, the shiny-leaf buckthorn, or areki, a strong spirit. This recipe uses red wine, which the contributor prefers and which is far easier to find. Its traditional place is at celebrations. Awaze is made for weddings and special occasions and served with raw meat, and gored gored, cubed raw beef with dipping sauce, is considered by many an unofficial national dish that no Ethiopian celebration is complete without. That is worth knowing about what the dip is for. Because of the wine, this is not alcohol-free, and mitmita, the other Ethiopian chilli blend with pili-pili peppers and cardamom, is a related but different thing.