Niter Kebbeh

Last week I finally tried my hand at Misr Wat (red lentils). The recipe called for either niter kebbeh (a spiced butter) or simply unsalted butter. Which do you think is better? Right! But I didn't have any niter kebbeh, so I made the lentils with unsalted butter. They started out pretty watery but were surprisingly good -- after I finally got them reduced to the right consistency. (I really just like to use the word "reduced" because it shows I can cook something that requires more than boiling water. I know how to reduce!)

Anyway, now that I've dipped my toe into Ethiopian lentils (Hmmm?), I'm ready to dive into some other stuff: lentils again, shiro (I bought the spice in Ethiopia) and Ethiopian collard greens.

To get started, I needed to make some niter kebbeh, which has about 90 ingredients including a couple I'd never heard of and had no idea where to find. Fenugreek, for one. I found it at a health food store in seed form and ground it in my coffee grinder. Then I toasted all the spices. Then I read the rest of the recipe and panicked for a minute when I saw the word "cheesecloth." My friend Cindy told me not to freak out -- I know how to reduce! -- use a coffee filter. So....


I always save the asparagus rubber bands. They have so many uses in the kitchen.



These are the yucky milk solids and spices. They dropped to the bottom just like they were supposed to.



And into an air-tight jar, where it will keep for 3 months in the frig.



Part 2 coming soon...