Kinche

Ingredients

Grain

• 300 gcracked wheat
• or cracked barley
• about 900 ml water
• or half water and half milk
• 1 teaspoonsalt

To dress

• 80 gniter kibbeh
• Ethiopian spiced butter
• or 80 g plain butter
• with a pinch of spices

Sometimes added

• 1 teaspoonmitmita
• or a little berbere
• a spoonful of yoghurt
• honey, for children

To serve

• hot in a bowl
• with coffee or tea
• at breakfast

Directions

1. Butter is melted slowly with aromatics. It keeps for months without refrigeration. Rinse the cracked grain in cold water. Pick out any stones or loose chaff. Rinse it until the water runs clear.
2. Drain the grain very thoroughly. Do not skip that step at any point. Heat a dry pan over a medium heat. Add the drained grain to the pan. Stir it constantly for five minutes. It should smell toasted and nutty. Put the grain into a heavy based pot. Add the water and the salt to it. Bring the pot up to a full boil.
3. Cover the pot and let it cook on. Cooking it takes about half an hour. Let it simmer gently for thirty minutes. Stir it well every few minutes or so. Add hot water if it gets too thick.
4. Stir right into the corners each time. Use a heavy based pot throughout. Judging when it is done takes a taste. Add it in the last ten minutes. Melt the niter kibbeh down gently. Do not let it brown or bubble hard.
5. Keep it warm until you come to serve. Melt plain butter in a small pan. Add a crushed garlic clove to it. Add a pinch of cardamom and fenugreek. Let it warm through for five minutes.
6. Strain it well before you use it. Serving it is done hot in bowls. Spoon the hot grain into bowls. Make a hollow in the middle of each.
7. Pour melted niter kibbeh into the hollow. Each spoonful takes some butter with it. Scatter mitmita over an adult bowl. Add honey to a child’s bowl instead. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• The grain is boiled in nothing but water and salt, and all the flavour comes from the butter added on top of each bowl; that plainness is deliberate, since this is food for children and for people recovering from illness, and each person adjusts their own bowl with mitmita, honey or yoghurt.
• Niter kibbeh is butter clarified with garlic, ginger, korarima, fenugreek and cardamom, then strained; clarifying removes the water and milk solids that make butter go rancid, which is why it keeps for months without refrigeration.
• Cracked grain carries a lot of loose dust that makes the finished dish gluey, so rinse it until the water runs clear; it also settles and catches on the base, so stir right into the corners and use a heavy pot.

Substitutions

• Cracked barley and cracked wheat are both entirely traditional.
• Plain butter warmed with garlic, cardamom and fenugreek stands in for niter kibbeh.

Variations

• Replacing some water with milk in the last ten minutes gives a creamier result.
• Mitmita is scattered over adult bowls and honey added to children’s.
• Some households toast the grain dry before boiling it.

History

A sustaining highland breakfast of cracked grain and niter kibbeh, also cooked for children and for people recovering from illness.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kinche?

Kinche is a breakfast from Ethiopia: cracked wheat or barley boiled plain and dressed with spiced butter. A sustaining highland breakfast of cracked grain and niter kibbeh, also cooked for children and for people recovering from illness.

How long does Kinche take to make?

Kinche takes 10 minutes of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Kinche?

Yes, within limits. Cracked barley and cracked wheat are both entirely traditional. Plain butter warmed with garlic, cardamom and fenugreek stands in for niter kibbeh.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kinche?

Drain the grain very thoroughly. Do not skip that step at any point. Heat a dry pan over a medium heat. Add the drained grain to the pan. Stir it constantly for five minutes. It should smell toasted and nutty. Put the grain into a heavy based pot. Add the water and the salt to it. Bring the pot up to a full boil.