Kitfo (Ethiopian Minced Raw Beef)
Abuja, Nigeria · Voir toutes les recettes
Aperçu
Kitfo is very finely minced raw beef, warmed through with spiced clarified butter and chilli. The name says what it is: kitfo comes from the Amharic for chopping finely. It is Ethiopian and Eritrean, and it is celebration food, a dish for major holidays, weddings and family occasions rather than an ordinary weeknight. Two things define it. The first is niter kibbeh, the clarified butter infused with garlic, ginger, cardamom, fenugreek and other spices, which is what carries flavour into meat that is never exposed to direct heat. The second is mitmita, the fierce Ethiopian chilli blend built on pili-pili peppers with cardamom, cloves and salt. Both are what separate kitfo from any other steak tartare. Doneness has its own vocabulary, and the names matter because they are what you order by. Tere kitfo is fully raw. Leb leb is warmed just enough to melt the butter through it. Yebesele is taken further still. Gored gored, which is on this site as its own recipe, is the closely related dish where the beef is cut into cubes rather than minced, same tradition, different knife work, noticeably different in the mouth. It is served with injera, and usually alongside gomen, the collard greens, and ayib, the fresh Ethiopian cheese, whose mildness is there to answer the heat.
Note de Patrimoine AFN
Kitfo is an Ethiopian and Eritrean dish of finely minced raw beef dressed with niter kibbeh, the spiced clarified butter, and mitmita chilli. The name derives from the Amharic verb meaning to chop finely, and the dish is associated with major holidays and celebrations.
Ingrédients
Les mentions alimentaires sont fournies par les contributeurs à titre indicatif. Elles ne sont pas vérifiées par AFN et dépendent des produits que vous achetez. En cas d’allergie grave, vérifiez vous-même chaque ingrédient. Cuisine, allergies et votre propre jugement
Préparation
- 1
If you are making the spiced butter yourself, warm the clarified butter gently in a small pot with the coarsely ground spices, the garlic and the scallion. Take it off the heat as soon as the butter smells fragrant and the garlic begins to colour, leave it to stand for 10 minutes, then strain it through a fine sieve or a paper coffee filter. Wipe out the pot.
- 2
Trim the beef of every scrap of fat and sinew, then cut it into 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes.
- 3
Chop the cubes by hand with a sharp knife until fine but not pasty. If you use a food processor, work in three batches and pulse rather than run it, stopping while the meat is still fine rather than smooth.
- 4
Grind the mitmita, berbere and cardamom finely in a mortar.
- 5
Warm the strained butter gently in the pot, then work in the ground spices, the beef and salt until evenly combined.
- 6
For tere kitfo, serve at this point, raw. For leb leb, keep it over very low heat only until the butter melts through and the meat warms. For yebesele, continue until cooked through.
- 7
Garnish with the chopped jalapeño and basil, and serve with lettuce leaves for rolling, alongside injera, gomen and ayib.
Notes de l’Africook
- This is raw meat as written. Buy from a butcher you trust, ask for meat suitable for eating raw, keep it refrigerated, and prepare and serve it the same day.
- Trim relentlessly. Fat and sinew that would soften in a cooked dish stay tough and unpleasant here.
- Chop by hand if you can. A food processor turns finely chopped beef into paste in seconds, and the texture is most of the dish.
- Niter kibbeh and mitmita are what make this kitfo rather than tartare. Both keep well and both are sold at Ethiopian grocers.
- Leb leb is the useful middle setting if raw beef is not for you or your guests: warmed only enough to melt the butter through, it keeps the texture while taking the edge off.
- Ayib, the mild fresh cheese, is not a garnish. It is there to cut the mitmita, and the dish is noticeably harsher without it.
Questions fréquentes
Is kitfo eaten raw?
Traditionally yes, and the degree of cooking has its own names. Tere kitfo is fully raw. Leb leb is warmed only until the spiced butter melts through it, which takes the chill off without really cooking the meat. Yebesele is taken all the way through. All three are ordered by name in Ethiopian restaurants, so asking for leb leb is a normal request rather than a compromise.
What is the difference between kitfo and gored gored?
The knife. Both are Ethiopian raw beef dressed with spiced butter and chilli, but kitfo is minced very finely while gored gored is cut into cubes. That produces two quite different eating experiences from nearly identical ingredients: kitfo is soft and the spicing is distributed evenly through it, while gored gored gives you distinct pieces of meat. Gored gored has its own recipe on this site.
What are niter kibbeh and mitmita?
Niter kibbeh is Ethiopian clarified butter infused with spices, commonly garlic, ginger, cardamom, fenugreek, cinnamon and koseret, then strained. Mitmita is a dry chilli blend of hot pili-pili peppers, cardamom seeds, cloves and salt, and it is considerably fiercer than berbere. Together they are what make kitfo taste Ethiopian rather than simply like seasoned raw beef, and neither has a real substitute.
What is it served with?
Injera above all, which is used to scoop it. Gomen, the stewed collard greens, and ayib, the mild fresh cheese, are the usual companions, and the cheese in particular is there to temper the mitmita. Lettuce leaves are often served alongside for rolling small portions. As celebration food it usually appears as part of a shared platter rather than as a plated individual course.
Avis
Soyez le premier à noter cette recette
Vous l’avez cuisinée ? Votre note aide la personne suivante à se décider.
Aucun avis sur cette recette pour le moment. Si vous l’avez cuisinée, le vôtre serait le premier.
Vous Aimerez Aussi
Voir toutes les recettes Ethiopia →
Ethiopian Berbere Cabbage - Atakilt Wat
Shiro Wat (Ethiopian Chickpea Stew)
