The Art of Ethiopian cuisine: Part 1 - Beef & Pork

Happy April! 

Spring has officially begun, and soon enough we will feel it every day in the weather. It's time for snow melting, sunshine, green grass, boatloads of flowers, chickadees and bunny rabbits. So ethnic food is a perfect fit! (Wait, what?) Uhhh yeah, you haven't heard of Ethnic Food April?!? Totally a thing. I just made it so.

Since moving to Colorado, I've been exposed to new cuisines pretty often. I've become hooked on Ethiopian. A student in my year is from Ethiopia, and she has both shown us local restaurants and cooked a unique Ethiopian dinner in her home for us. I recently decided to attempt to replicate a full Ethiopian meal at home! This will be a series of posts, all from a ginormous dinner party I threw. 

Also fittingly, this is my 200th blog post! Wow, I didn't know I had so many things to talk about. It seems like not too long ago I was excited about my 100th Post wherein I brined and baked a whole pheasant! (Not as hard to do as it sounds, but just as delicious as you might think). My how time flies. Like pheasants. Anywho, sorry to sidetrack you, on to the Ethipoian!

The Food

Ethiopian cuisine, if you have never had it, mostly consist of various stews, eaten with your hands and the help of a unique flatbread called Injera. The bread is made from a unique grain called Teff, and fermented for several days. It is slightly sour, bubbly, and spongy. It is a very unique experience the first time you try it, but it becomes an addiction. The stews vary from purely vegan (lentils, sweet potato, etc) through various types of meats (beef, lamb, pork) and mixtures. They lay the bread on a huge middle plate, then scoop piles of deliciously spiced concoctions onto it, which you then scoop up and eat with more pieces of injera and your hands. If you've never tried it, I highly recommend it! Even more fun as a social experience. 

The Art of Ethiopian Cuisine: Part 1 - Beef & Pork
The Art of Ethiopian Cuisine: Part 2 - Chicken & Fish
The Art of Ethiopian Cuisine: Part 3 - Potatoes & Lentils
The Art of Ethiopian Cuisine: Part 4 - Cheese, Greens, & Injera

Part 1: Beef and Pork

So the ground beef stew is called Minchet-Abesh Alicha. The recipe I used was based off the recipe HERE from Food.com. Meanwhile, apparently pork stew isn't really an Ethiopian thing (at least not that I could find much online) but the recipe I ended up sorta following can be found HERE from Thomas the Accidental Gourmet. As far as I can tell, they don't eat pork in Ethiopia. But in America we sure do. So I decided any meat can be stew-ified and went ahead.

Ingredients (Minchet-Abesh Alicha):
1 pound ground beef
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup diced onions
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup chicken stock/water
Garlic salt
2-3 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp nutmeg
1/2 tbsp cinnamon

The spices really make the dishes shine. But there is plenty of room for substitution. If you don't have some spices, or don't want to shell out for them, don't worry about it and use whatever spice mixture you like. It's the bread that really makes the meal unique!


Step 1: Brown the ground beef and drain. (I actually used ground turkey, shhh don't tell!) Add either 1/2 cup onions to butter and cook until translucent, or use dried onion flakes, about 2 tbsp. Mix with the ground beef. 
Step 2: Add all spices you are using, stock or water, and diced tomatoes. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better. All the spices blend together and infuse the meat. Your house/apartment will smell divine! This was probably the favorite of all the dishes cooked.

Ingredients (Pork Stew):
4 pork chops (or 1 small roast) diced
1/2 cup stock/water
2 tbsp turmeric
2 tbsp curry powder
1/2 can diced tomatoes

Step 1: Dice the pork, brown in a pan with the stock. Add in the spices and bring to a simmer.

Step 2: Add the diced tomatoes, or 1 small can tomato paste. Simmer another 10 minutes or until ready to serve.

This is what the finished meal looked like:

The ground beef stew is mid-left, pork is on the upper right. Wait until the injera post, where you get to learn how to make Ethiopian "pancakes"...

Up next: Chicken & Fish!

Ten minute chili mac

Who doesn't love a little comfort food now and then?I know I do! I believe in life with moderation in all things. Eat well most of the time, be active most of the time, indulge a little some of the time! Not only is this chili mac super easy and fast, it is also ridiculously cheap. To bare-bones it, just get the store brand mac n cheese and the frugal-est can of pre-made chili and mix the two. This recipe is just one step up from there by making your own quick chilli. You can use the chili alone, or top hot dogs or baked potatoes too.

Ingredients:

1 box macaroni & cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar for extra oomph)

1 can kidney beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1 pound ground beef or turkey

1 small can tomato sauce (6 oz)

1/4 cup chili powder

Step 1: Prepare the macaroni by boiling and draining pasta. You can choose to make your own pasta and cheese sauce if you don't want the preservatives or seasonings from the packaged version.

Step 2: While noodles boil, brown the ground meat and drain fat. In a sauce pot, combine the meat, diced tomatoes with juice, chili powder, drained kidney beans, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes to 2 hours.

Step 3: If you're using this just as chili for a meal or topper, longer simmering is better. But basically as soon as flavors combine and it is heated through you can add into the macaroni. Just pour it all in there, and give it a good stir.

You can add in any spices you want too, hot sauce if you like that kinda thing, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, etc...

There you have it, a thick, hearty comfort food that is sure to please your palate and fill your tummy. Depending on if you hit sales and buy store brand or not, you can easily feed six-eight for under $3!

Enjoy!

What's your favorite comfort food?

Cheeseburger Mac

This classic student-loved recipe is still delicious as an "adult", though you can fancy it up with different cheeses and noodle shapes if you want. Super simple to make yet very filling. It's like macaroni & cheese only beefier.

Ingredients:
1 pound of macaroni
2 cups of cheese (any kind, shredded or cubed)
1 pound of ground beef
1 cup of milk

Step 1: Boil the macaroni for about 7 minutes, until al dente. Meanwhile, brown the ground beef and drain the fat.

 Step 2: Drain the pasta, add it back to the pan. Add in the cheese and milk, heat until the cheese melts, stirring often so the cheese doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. Add the beef back in, mix well.

I used half cheddar and half pepper jack cheese, so it was a little tangy. I'd recommend trying it. You can use any kind of cheese and noodle shape you want, and even add veggies if you're feeling crazy.

Picnic favorite: 9-layer Taco Dip

I'm going to a park to play volleyball with some friends, and we will grill and have a picnic afterwards. Everyone brings something to share. I wanted to make something different from your typical hot dogs and chips type food, and anything taco-related is always a hit, so this is what I came up with. Since I already had the majority of ingredients, only needed to buy the lettuce and tomato, this was super cheap. Even if I had to re-buy everything, for a party of 10 or so people this is a cheap side/dip. It is nearly filling enough to count as a meal!

Ingredients.
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup taco seasoning
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
1 can refried beans
1/4 cup salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/2 ripe tomato
1/4 head of lettuce, shredded (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup sliced black olives

Step 1: Brown the ground beef in a skillet. While cooking, layer the cream cheese on the bottom of an 8x8 pan with a spoon.

 Step 2: Spread the sour cream on top of the cream cheese. Now you have 2 layers of cheesy goodness to build your mexi-masterpiece on top of.

 Step 3: Open the refried beans and mix it up in the can. You can heat this first, I just scooped it right out of the can and layered it on.

 That's 3 if you're counting.

 Step 3: Once beef is cooked, add the taco seasoning and 1/4 cup water and cook until the water boils off. The beef should now smell tangy and reminiscent of Taco Bell. Pour that over the beans and spread evenly.

 Step 4: Add as much salsa as you like on top of the beef. I just put about 1/4 cup since I'm adding real tomato as well.

 Step 5: Add a healthy handful of shredded cheddar or whatever type of cheese you like. We're up to 6 layers now...

 Step 6: Cut the lettuce into small strips and cover the cheese with crunchy green goodness.

 Step 7: Dice up a big fresh red tomato into small chunks and add those on top.

 Step 8: Sprinkle the sliced black olives on top to complete the pretty picture.

And there you have it, 9 layers of tasty chip-read dip! You can of course omit any layers you don't particularly like, and it's also an option to toss this in the oven or microwave for a few minutes after the cheese layer to warm up the meat/beans/cheeses before topping with the fresh veggies if you like it warm.

Sneaky bean & beefy pasta

In an effort to not only be healthier but also use up canned goods, I decided to take the old student standby of pasta with meat sauce and kick it up a notch. I had a half jar of Ragu from a few days ago, so I just used a small can of tomato sauce to round it out, and a can of chickpeas. (You could probably use any bean here, but chickpeas were what I had, plus they blend better than pinto or black) I didn't just want chunks of beans in my sauce, so I blended them. Makes the sauce thicker and adds protein and fiber.

Ingredients:
1/2 jar pasta sauce
1 can tomato sauce
1 can chickpeas
1 box pasta noodles of your choice
1 pound ground beef
Handful spinach

Step 1: Open the can of beans and drain half the liquid. Pour the rest and the tomato sauce into blender and liquefy it. Add extra water if it's too thick.

Step 2: Fill a large pot half full of water, add salt if you want. Bring to a rolling boil, and cook the pasta 5-8 minutes. While cooking, complete step 3. Drain when al dente (aka soft but not mush).

Step 3: Brown the ground beef in a frying pan. You want to make sure it's fully cooked. Then add the handful of spinach and cover. Cook for 3 minutes to wilt the spinach. Pour the sauce on top, mix well and cook on medium, covered, until heated through.

The beans makes the sauce thick and gives it a certain depth of flavor without being too obvious. You could also blend in the spinach once cooked so you don't even know it's there. Mixed with the plain Ragu pasta sauce and ground beef, it isn't too noticeable. This is a good way to sneak extra nutrition past whiny kids and picky hubbys. Those adjectives are probably also interchangeable. Just saying.

Slow cooker chili con carne with beans

I love my Slow Cooker. Not that I've ever tried to keep that a secret, I just wanted to put it out there. Slow cookers are amazing for so many reasons: it's super easy, takes little to no time/work on your part, and makes meals so much cheaper. You just prep, throw all the ingredients in, then go do whatever you want. You can buy cheap ingredients in bulk and turn them into a zillion different types of meals. If ever I meet the inventor of the Crock Pot I will hug them.

I know, some of you are thinking, but wait it's August in Colorado, why are you making winter food? While it is true the Rocky Mountain blizzards haven't yet begun (and thank god for that! stay away as long as possible please...) it has been rainy/overcast here. Weird, right? Isn't Colorado basically a really high-up desert? That's what I was told. Someone lied to me, because we've had some serious torrential downpours recently. It's far too late to save my porch plants, but at least maybe they'll lift the fire ban and allow fireworks again soon...

Anyhow, so I was craving some chili. After an in-depth discussion with my boyfriend, who is from Texas, arguing the general attitudes of some people towards the many different types of chili (with beans, never beans, meat types, heat level, sweetness, over noodles, etc) I decided on a thicker, meatier kind of chili with minimal fuss, not sweet and with beans.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef (as you can see, I popped mine right in there from the freezer)
1 can pinto beans
1/2 onion, diced small
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 small can V8 or tomato sauce
Garlic salt
Coriander
Chili powder

 Step 1: Put meat in crock pot, add all canned ingredients. Dice up the onion, add that and spices to taste. I don't measure, as a general rule. I like garlic salt, so that's probably about 3 tbsp worth, coriander comes out slow so maybe 1-2 tbsp, chili powder is kinda key so I'd say I used maybe 1/4 cup worth.

 Step 2: Put that sucker on low overnight. In the morning, break up the meat chunk into smaller bite size pieces. Leave on low all day too. You can taste it to see if it needs more spice of any kind, and add extra liquid (tomato sauce/juice is best) if it needs it.

 Coming home from work to the knock-your-socks-off smell of chili just can't be beat on a cold, rainy day!

I made some corn bread muffins to go with it, (I totally cheated and used a 50 cent Jiffy mix, no judgment) as well as serving it with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. It was amaaaaaaaaazing. And makes plenty for several servings and leftovers too.

Leftover chili is great on its own, or over hot dogs as chili cheese dogs, over cooked pasta, or on a baked potato with extra cheese, sour cream and or avocado. I've even seen it as pizza! (Which I will need to try making someday soon).

Enjoy!

Make your own pizza, male and female style

You may think I'm weird for saying this, but I don't like pizza that much. I know, how un-American of me. I will eat it if it's around, and I get an occasional craving for a weird one like chicken bacon ranch, but in general if asked what I want for dinner, the answer will not be Little Caesars. My current boyfriend could literally live off pizza and burritos. So we found a compromise, making our own pizza. That way I can have the things I want on it (veggies) and control the sauce, and he can have what he wants (as much meat as possible) at the same time. This is our version of men are from Mars, women are from Venus, in the kitchen.

Ingredients:

1 tube pizza dough (about $2 at grocery store)

1 jar pizza sauce (~$2)

Toppings of choice: Female half

Spinach & mixed greens

Onions & peppers julienned

Zucchini

Mozzarella cheese

Pineapple

Toppings of choice: Male half

Deli ham

Ground beef (pre-cooked, left over from burritos actually)

Bacon

Mozzarella cheese

Pineapple 

Step 1: Cook the meat if needed, spray a 9x13 oven safe pan. Roll the pizza dough out flat and press to the sides of the pan.

Step 2: Spread on as much sauce as you like. I don't like most pizzas because I end up scraping a cup of sauce off my slices, so I put it on thin.

Step 3: Layer the toppings.

 

 Step 4: Cover in as much cheese as you can handle. Because cheese is sent from heaven to make all foods taste better. Some calories are just worth it.
Step 5: Bake at 425 for ~20 minutes or until crust is brown and crispy and cheese is bubbling.

This recipe is as varied as your imagination, nearly any meat or vegetable can be a pizza topping, so if you like it then go crazy! You can use veggies left over from other meals. It's easy to make a vegetarian (or even vegan without the cheese) pizza. You can fold the dough in half to make a smaller deep-dish pizza. Try a bunch of variations and find what you like best.  No matter what you put on yours, its likely to still be much cheaper and healthier than a purchased one.

Moroccan Beef & Couscous

So this is another one where I had some odds & ends, found a recipe that used most of the ingredients, then changed it to fit what I felt like making. Original recipe is from GoodHousekeeping: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/moroccan-spiced-beef-couscous-2404

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 can chickpeas

1/2 zucchini, diced

1/2 yellow squash, diced

1/2 cup carrot, sliced

2 tbsp dried onion (I would have preferred a whole onion diced, but didn't have one)

2 tbsp dried cranberries

Cinnamon, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper

1 box wheat couscous

1 cup chicken stock

 Step 1: Dice the vegetables and saute in a frying pan over medium heat.

 Step 2: The recipe called for the beef to be cooked in the same pan, but if I were to do it again I'd cook the beef separately so I could drain the fat easier. Cook the beef until no longer pink.

 

Step 3: Add 2 tbsp of the cumin and paprika, and 1 tbsp of garlic and cinnamon.

Step 4: Open and drain the chickpeas, add to the pan and heat through. Stir in the cranberries and cover 2 minutes.

Step 5: Cook the couscous as directed. I put it in a microwave-safe pan with a cover, added the stock and included spice packet and microwaved on high 5 minutes. 

 Step 6: Fluff the cooked couscous. Put about 1/4 cup in a bowl, and spoon 1/2 cup beef and veggie mix on top. Enjoy!

I was given the advice to add onion (which I definitely will next time) and pineapple to add a bit of sweet, which I totally agree with. I might try adding eggplant too. You could use any vegetable you like, and try different spices too. The beefy, soft veggie, sweetness combo is perfect over soft fluffy couscous.

Inside-out stuffed peppers

I have to credit this post to my friend, Maribeth. She is also an excellent cook, and is allowing me to post this recipe here. We both needed some serious girl-talk time, so cooking dinner together and enjoying some wine was of course the natural choice. This is her recipe.

Ingredients:

1 green bell pepper

1 box rice pilaf

1 lb ground beef

1 onion

2 tbsp pesto

1 tbsp diced garlic

1 cup Spaghetti sauce

black pepper

Step 1: Dice the onion into small pieces and the bell pepper into strips. 

Step 2: Cook the ground beef fully, then add the onion, pepper and garlic. Cover tightly and steam for about 10 minutes, until pepper is fully cooked. (You can of course omit the ground beef or use tofu instead for vegetarians.)

Step 3: Meanwhile, cook the rice pilaf according to instructions. Once peppers are soft, add the rice and pesto and mix well.

Step 4: Season to taste with black pepper and any other seasonings you like.

Step 5: Scoop a big pile onto a plate, and cover with the sauce.
Step 6: Try to stop yourself from having seconds!

Inside out stuffed peppers. Delicious!