Ethiopian food is distinctive and delicious, befitting a remarkable country with a cultural heritage that stands out from the rest of Africa. While the cuisine of Ethiopia is becoming better known, it still remains something of a secret. Eating Ethiopian-style means rethinking some assumptions you might have about dinnertime - for most of us, this means starting with eschewing cutlery and being ready to get messy fingers.
Ethiopian food is a feast for the eyes as much as the palate. It typically arrives on a platter covered in warm flatbread and piled high with dishes like rich stewed meats and legumes flavored with aromatic Ethiopian spices. Intrigued but not sure what to order at an Ethiopian restaurant? This guide will help you navigate the menu and discover some of the best dishes Ethiopia has to offer.
Understanding Ethiopian Cuisine
Most meals in Ethiopia are centered around injera, paired with a variety of stews and vegetables. Popular everyday dishes include lentils, split peas, greens, and spicy meat-based options like tibs or doro wat.
What is injera? Injera is made from a grain known as teff, which is ground into flour, made into a batter, slightly fermented, and then fried on a heavy skillet into a giant circular pancake. The foundation of the vast majority of Ethiopian meals is injera, a giant gray spongy pancake-like bread, upon whose strangely rubbery surface are served an array of foods, including multicolored mounds of spicy stews, vegetable curries and cubes of raw meat.
This mode of eating is highly communal, with everyone gathering around a large circular metal tray of injera heavily laden with food as hands go back and forth scooping up food with strips of injera torn from the edges. Like Indians, the Ethiopians aren’t shy of adding spices. Beyond the endless dishes, it’s essential to try Ethiopian coffee after a meal. Ethiopia is reportedly the birthplace of quality Arabica coffee, and its coffees are praised as some of the best in the world.
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Injera with various stews
How to Make Ethiopian Injera- Ferment Teff Flour
Must-Try Ethiopian Dishes
Injera
Injera is central to nearly every meal in Ethiopia. Its popularity comes from both its practicality and flavor. Eating Ethiopian food the traditional way means eating with your hands, and injera serves as both the plate and the utensil. When made with 100% teff flour (a tiny grain native to East Africa), it’s naturally vegan and gluten-free.
To begin eating, first tear off a bite sized piece of injera with your right hand. No utensils are needed, you eat with your hands, while sharing a single platter of food with everyone you eat with.
Tibs
Sliced beef or lamb, pan-fried in butter, garlic and onion, tibs is one of the most popular dishes among Ethiopians. A famous Ethiopian food, Tibs is a rich, spicy beef stew that’s a must-try for anyone curious about the cuisine. Small cubes of beef are sautéed in butter or oil, then simmered with onions, garlic, chili, and rosemary.
It comes in a variety of forms, varying in type, size or shape of the cuts of meat used, and can range from hot to mild or contain little to no vegetables. A particularly recommended variation is shekla tibs, in which the strips of meat arrive at your table roasting atop a clay pot stoked with hot coals - dramatic and delicious.
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Historically, tibs was served to pay a compliment or show respect to someone. Today it’s still viewed as a special dish, hence its popularity for commemorating special events and holidays. At the same time, though, if you walk into a rowdy bar on a Friday afternoon in Ethiopia’s rambunctious capital, Addis Ababa, it’s likely that most of the revelers will be enthusiastically ordering and eating tibs.
Tibs
Doro Wat
While injera anchors the meal, doro wat is typically considered the national dish. One of the most popular Ethiopian dishes is Doro Wat. It’s a crimson-colored stew of chicken thighs slow-cooked in a spicy mixture of berbere, more garlic and ginger, diced onions, and butter. Hard-boiled eggs are then added toward the end of the cooking process. For Ethiopians, doro wat is the go-to meal of celebration during national and religious festivals.
Kitfo
Similar to French steak tartare, the meat is minced and warmed in a pan with a little butter, mitmita (a stronger version of berbere) and sometimes thyme. Kitfo is typically served leb leb (warmed, not cooked), though you can ask for it to be betam leb leb (“very warmed,” which basically means cooked). Kitfo can be served with aib (like dry cottage cheese) and gomen (minced spinach), a recommended pairing making the meal even more delicious, as well as especially filling - highly recommended after a hard day’s traveling or if one is confronted with a hangover after a long night.
Kitfo
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Beyainatu
The name of Ethiopia’s most popular vegetarian dish translates as “a bit of every type,” hence your injera arrives blanketed in piles of tasty and colorful vegetables, potatoes, curries, lentil stews and more, creating a riot of colors and tastes. Because of Ethiopia’s strong tradition of religious fasting and abstaining from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays, beyainatu is widely available around the country, and served just about everywhere from fancy hotels to tiny food shacks beside the road. Hence when traveling or faced with a menu only printed in Amharic, beyainatu is a safe and simple go-to. Many visitors to Ethiopia return proclaiming - regardless of whether they are vegetarian or not - beyainatu their favorite meal.
Fuul
Popular across East Africa and the Middle East, Ethiopian fuul is a mix of stewed and spiced fava beans eaten by many Ethiopians for breakfast. Regular fuul is usually served as a modest portion for one - while still filling you up - supplemented with an endless supply of fresh bread. So-called special fuul is usually large enough to share, and served with yogurt, tomato, green chile, onion, egg and occasionally avocado. Locals mash this together and season further with salt, additional spices and fresh chiles. You can tell you are in the right sort of fuul-serving diner if it’s brought to you in small metal bowls that are too hot to touch, with eaters using a piece of torn-off bread to grip the bowl’s side. Fuul serves as a healthy fast food, especially in Addis Ababa, where it is often cooked and dispensed out of vast pots, with most customers well fed in under ten minutes before they head off into the teeming city for their day’s work.
Tere Siga
Not for the faint-hearted, one of Ethiopia’s most popular delicacies is cubes of raw red meat. Two people typically order half a kilo of tere siga to share, which is eaten with injera or bread to clasp the meat you carve off the raw slab, and dipped in copious amounts of mitmita. One of the stories about how Ethiopians developed a love of raw meat is that it was developed as a military tactic during the 16th century so fighters could avoid detection by not having to start fires to cook their meat.
While most Ethiopians seem to suffer no adverse effects from eating tere siga - the majority avow it makes them feel on top of the world - eating raw meat does carry a relative health risk. This ranges from tapeworm to salmonella, though this author hasn’t experienced any problems post-tere siga. If you’re concerned after a trip to Ethiopia, a simple tablet available from pharmacies can be taken to neutralize any tapeworm risk.
Enkulal Firfir
While basically just scrambled eggs, which might not sound that exciting, Ethiopia’s enkulal firfir is not to be missed at breakfast. Cooked with nitre kibe - Ethiopian spiced butter - it is further enhanced with a combination of green and red peppers, chile, tomatoes and onions, all of which is scooped up with fresh tasty bread rolls, often still warm from the bakery. A notable feature of enkulal firfir is how fantastically yellow it is, which translates into a far superior taste compared to the results of pallid egg yolks in the west. The omelet version is known as enkulal tibs. Be warned: your appreciation of scrambled eggs back home will never be quite the same after savoring enkulal firfir.
Shiro
A lightly spiced chickpea or bean purée, shiro is particularly favored by Ethiopians on fasting days. One of the most unassuming dishes you’ll encounter, it can appear as not much more than slop. Don’t be deceived, it’s very tasty. Shiro is often prepared with the addition of minced onions, garlic and, depending upon regional variation, ground ginger or chopped tomatoes and chile peppers, further boosting the flavor. Tegabino shiro is a type of shiro made with heavily spiced legumes, flour, oil or butter, and water brought to the boil, and then brought bubbling all the way to the table in a miniature clay pot.
As with much eating in Ethiopia, a touch of ceremony attends this dish: A person comes and sits by your table while scooping from a triangular wedge of barley and rolling the barley between hands into little balls to be placed on the tray of injera for you to pierce, dip and eat.
Dabbo Firfir
Comprising torn-up bits of unleavened bread mixed with clarified butter and berbere, and often accompanied by yoghurt, dabbo firfir is a good example of Ethiopian cooking’s ability to take something simple and do much more with it. Like shiro, it might not look much but dabbo firfir is surprisingly tasty. And as another incentive, in this rare instance Ethiopians are willing to resort to a spoon or fork.
Fatira
A breakfast dish popular around the Horn of Africa, fatira usually comprises a thin pastry top and bottom with scrambled eggs and honey wedged in the middle. Typically served as a large portion, this perfect combination of savory and sweet can happily feed two. Fatira also comes in a street food version comprising small square pieces cooked in the open on a giant frying pan in the likes of Ethiopia’s beguiling eastern city of Harar. Accompanied by freshly brewed Ethiopian coffee, there aren’t many better ways to start a day of exploring Ethiopia.
Asa
Eating fish - asa - in Ethiopia is quite an experience. Typically, a fish such as Nile perch is fried and served entirely whole, the gaping mouth of jagged little teeth looking like you have a piranha on your plate. As ever, it’s eaten by hand with either bread or injera, accompanied by a fiery sauce to dip into. Bar a few bones, Ethiopians eat every bit, and justifiably so - the grilled fins are particularly tasty. Asa tibs are chunks of fish marinated in berbere spice and lime juice and then fried in sesame oil, olive oil and paprika, with grated garlic and ginger added. It’s a good option if you don’t want the hassle of picking out bones or having to contemplate the fish’s angry-looking face.
Spriss
Dotted all over Addis Ababa are juice houses - often not much more than a shack - serving spriss, delicious juice mixes made from the likes of avocado, guava, papaya, mango, pineapple and orange. Spriss is mixed by pouring layers of juice - typically from three fruits - on top of each other. There’s no water added, no sugar and no ice, just unadulterated pureed juice topped with a lime squeezed over the top. Some Ethiopians choose to add a squirt of a purple cordial that the author has never quite identified, though it adds a satisfyingly sweet touch. A juice is often served with a triangular wedge of sweetened bread, the combination of which serves as an effectively filling snack, especially if you opt for your glass to just be filled with pureed avocado. Spriss is extremely refreshing and a nice sweet break from all the other spicy foods.
Pasta beu Siga/Injera
Ordering pasta beu siga - pasta with meat - will get you something resembling a tasty spaghetti Bolognese. Alternatively, if you haven’t been overwhelmed by injera and you want a quirky mix that would be sure to raise eyebrows in Italy, you could try pasta beu injera: a great dollop of pasta incongruously lumped in the center of injera. Even in this challenging instance, Ethiopians stay true to tradition: a fork is only used to cut the pasta into manageable bits, after which it is all scooped up with injera clasped between fingers, as usual. Particularly tricky for first-timers, but one of the most filling meals you can get. Carbs galore.
Additional Dishes to Explore
- Azefa (Green Lentil Salad): Tangy, slightly spicy, and very refreshing.
- Sambusa (Stuffed Pastry Shells): Savory fried dough stuffed with seasoned ground beef or green lentils.
- Meat Dishes: Chicken Special Tibs (Meat Fried with Vegetables), Doro Wat (Spicy Chicken Stew), Kitfo (Minced Raw Beef).
- Veggie Combo: Buticha (Ground Chickpeas), Fossolia (Sauteed Green Beans), Miser Wat (Split Lentil Stew), Kik Wat (Split Pea Stew), Shro Wat (Ground Seasoned Chickpeas), Tikil Gomen (Cabbage & Potatoes), Miser Alech (Spiced Split Lentils).
- Chechebsa: Shredded and lightly fried injera and onions cooked in a red sauce redolent of berbere spices and served with honey and eggs.
Tips for Ordering and Enjoying Ethiopian Food
Here are some tips to enhance your Ethiopian dining experience:
- Go with a Group: This allows you to sample a variety of dishes.
- Get a Beyaynetu (Vegetarian Combination Platter): Great for variety and complements meat dishes.
- Ethiopian Meat Is Very Lean: But be aware that dishes are often made with niter kibe (Ethiopian spiced clarified butter) or oil.
- You Can Handle the Spice: Ethiopian dishes are spiced but not overly spicy.
- Eat with Your Hand, Not Your Hands: Use your right hand to tear off injera and grab food.
- Consider an Appetizer: Sambussa or ayib (Ethiopian cheese) are good choices.
Ethiopian Beverages
Don't forget to explore the beverage options. Here are a few to consider:
- Ethiopian Wine: Choose from brands like Dukam, Axumit, Gouder, Kemila, and Awash Crystal.
- Ethiopian Beer: Try Meta, Bedele, Dashen, Bati, Harar, Hakim Stout, or St. George.
- T’ej: A 2,000-year-old Ethiopian honey wine.
- Coffee: Participate in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony if offered.
