Every Friday, the team at the LEON support office in London descends on a nearby street food stall, Ethiopian Flavours, where chefs cook up Ethiopian curries, vegetables and rice. The owner, Davide Ghetaceu, gave us his recipe for home-cooked doro alicha tibs, an Ethiopian chicken curry. Simple to make, it is incredibly tasty.
Hiyaw, an inspired entrepreneur and talented chef, was an early HBK Incubates member and started his Ethiopian catering company in our kitchens. Injera, a spongy flatbread made with teff flour, an ancient gluten-free grain, is served underneath savory Ethiopian dishes. It’s traditionally used as both food and utensil, so you tear injera into pieces and wrap up bites of food in it, eating the whole package with your hands. Injera’s naturally fermented starter gives it a distinctive sour taste that cuts the richness of long-simmered soups and stews such as Doro Wat.
This is doro wat, arguably the national dish of Ethiopia, and a dish close to my heart. I once worked in an Ethiopian restaurant called the Horn of Africa in Madison, Wisconsin. This was by far the most popular dish. It is normally done with old chickens, and pheasants or grouse are great alternatives.
An everyday cooking sauce for any type of meat, fish or protein. Blend the ingredients and store the uncooked sauce for later use, or cook it and then leave to cool.
My ultimate childhood comfort food - I absolutely love this sauce! And here's a way to fast-forward a few steps to reach the desired result faster.
This cool, pale-green sauce of lime, chile and coriander was inspired by Somali chef Jamal Hashi. Every day he makes a bowl of it for his Safari Express food stand in Minneapolis’ Global Market, and every day, he runs out. Jamal remembers this sauce in Somalia, where people made it with what grew in their backyards — the ubiquitous lime trees, chile and coriander.