Best Way Ethiopian Tibs (made with top sirloin)
There are a LOT of recipes for Ethiopian Tibs (stir fried beef or lamb) on the web, and no two seem to be alike. The essence of the dish is chunks of tender meat in a savory sauce with onion, garlic, tomato and wine plus berbere seasoning to make it as spicy as you like. Try this prep, or simply compare to the other recipes in your Google search, and you’ll agree this is the best way to make Ethiopian Tibs. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
1 lb lean beef or lamb, trimmed of fat and cut into ¾ inch cubes*
1 ½ T or more berbere spice mix**
¾ t Kosher salt
2 T kibbeh**, clarified butter, or a mix of butter and vegetable oil
1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced into slivers, about 1 c
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 T fresh ginger, grated or chopped
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped, about 1 ½ c, or 14-oz can chopped tomatoes
1 6-inch sprig fresh rosemary or 1 t dried rosemary
½ c or more red wine
Method: toss the meat with the berbere and salt till all pieces are evenly coated; let it stand while you prepare the other ingredients. Heat the kibbeh/butter/oil in a wok or cast iron skillet and sauté the meat on medium-high heat till it is crispy on the outside but rare to medium rare in the middle. Reserve. Add garlic, oil and ginger to the pan (which should now have additional liquid thrown off by the meat) and sauté on low to medium heat until onion is limp. Add wine and rosemary and simmer 5 minutes or so until the wine has reduced somewhat. Remove the rosemary spring if using and return the meat to the pan. Taste and adjust seasoning (add more berbere and salt if needed) and heat briefly. Serve immediately with injera or rice.
*Any lean cut without a lot of connective tissue will do, since we’re only cooking it to medium rare: round steak, flank steak, sirloin, tenderloin or leg of lamb.
**I use Penzey’s Berbere which I think is spicier than most blends. Taste and add more as you go to your own tolerance/preferences. Resist the temptation to just use cayenne because berbere includes a number of additional ingredients (check the list on the Penzey’s link above).
**Kibbeh is the seasoned clarified butter that makes its way into most Ethiopian dishes. Recipes abound. For my test run, I actually used the similarly-seasoned oil I’d made from the Teff Love cookbook (it’s Ye’Qimen Zeyet/Seasoned Oil on page 25), mixed half-and-half with plain butter.
