Niter kibbeh

The spices go into the butter before it is strained, not after.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter).

Ingredients

• 500 g unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 cm ginger, sliced
• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 4 korarima pods, cracked, or 4 green cardamom pods
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 2 teaspoons dried besobela, or dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried koseret, or dried oregano

Method

1. THE SPICES GO INTO THE BUTTER BEFORE IT IS STRAINED, NOT AFTER. Its article puts the whole difference in one clause: the preparation IS SIMILAR TO THAT OF GHEE, BUT NITER KIBBEH IS SIMMERED WITH SPICES SUCH AS BESOBELA, KOSERET, FENUGREEK, CUMIN, CORIANDER, TURMERIC, KORARIMA, CINNAMON, OR NUTMEG BEFORE STRAINING. Clarifying and infusing are the same step here, and that is the page.
2. SO THE ORDER IS BUTTER, THEN AROMATICS, THEN HEAT, THEN THE SIEVE. Stir ground spice into finished ghee and it sits in the fat as grit; simmer whole spice in the butter while the water is driving off and the fat takes the flavour and lets the solids go.
3. MELT THE BUTTER OVER A LOW HEAT AND DO NOT LET IT COLOUR YET. It will foam as the water leaves. Skim what rises if it is easy to reach, but there is no need to chase it, because everything in the pan is going through a sieve.
4. IN GO THE ONION, GARLIC AND GINGER FIRST. They hold the most water, so they want the longest in the pan: fifteen minutes at a bare simmer, never a fry.
5. THEN THE SEEDS, THE PODS AND THE BARK. Fenugreek, cumin, coriander, cracked korarima and the cinnamon, whole. Ground spice would cloud the fat and burn on the bottom before the butter was ready.
6. THE DRIED LEAF LAST AND BRIEFLY. Besobela and koseret are leaves, and five minutes in hot fat is enough; longer and they turn bitter. Turmeric goes in with them, for colour more than anything.
7. KEEP IT AT A BARE SIMMER FOR THIRTY TO FORTY MINUTES, UNTIL THE BUBBLING GOES QUIET. The quiet is the water gone. The milk solids will be sitting on the bottom and just beginning to brown, and that is the moment.
8. STRAIN IT HOT THROUGH MUSLIN AND LEAVE IT ALONE TO SET. Hot it pours clear; cold it will not pass the cloth at all. It keeps for months at room temperature because the water is out, which is the whole point of clarifying.
9. THE OIL VERSION HAS ITS OWN NAME. The article records that the version using vegetable oil instead of butter is called yeqimem zeyet, which is a different thing with the same spices.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Ethiopia · All recipes