Kitfo

Ingredients

Kitfo

• 600 gvery fresh lean beef, topside or eye of round, every scrap of sinew removed
• 120 gniter kibbeh
• 2–3 tspmitmita
• ½ tspground korarima
• ½ tspground besobela (optional)
• ½ tspfine salt

To serve

• 250 gayib (fresh curd cheese)
• 300 ggomen kitfo (collard greens, finely chopped and cooked with butter and chilli)
• kocho, injera or warm flatbread

Directions

1. Buy the beef the same day from a butcher you trust and keep it refrigerated until the moment you cut it. Kitfo is served raw or barely warmed, so freshness is the entire dish.
2. Trim away all sinew, silverskin and fat, then firm the meat in the freezer for 20 minutes so it holds an edge under the knife.
3. Chop it by hand with two heavy sharp knives, or a single curved blade on a wooden board as is traditional, to a fine even mince. A machine mincer smears the fibres and gives a pasty texture instead of a silky one.
4. Warm the niter kibbeh in a small pan until liquid and hot to the finger but nowhere near sizzling, around 50°C (120°F).
5. Stir the mitmita, korarima, besobela and salt into the warm butter and let them bloom for a minute; the butter will turn deep red and smell of chilli and cardamom.
6. Pour the spiced butter over the meat and work it through with your hands or a spoon for a minute, until the mince is evenly reddened, glossy and just warmed through. This is leb leb, the standard serve.
7. Serve immediately, mounded on a plate with ayib and gomen kitfo alongside and kocho or injera to scoop it up with.

Technique

• The three grades are the whole vocabulary of kitfo: tere, entirely raw with room-temperature butter; leb leb, warmed through, which is what most people order; and yebesele, cooked briefly in the pan.
• Mitmita, not berbere, is the chilli for kitfo. It is hotter, coarser and carries no fenugreek, which would muddy the raw meat.
• The dish belongs to the Gurage people, where it is festival food served with kocho and ayib, and it has become the emblematic dish of Gurage restaurants across Ethiopia.
• Food safety: raw beef carries real risk. Use a whole muscle cut minced by you on the day, keep it cold throughout, and do not serve it to anyone pregnant, elderly or immunocompromised.

Substitutions

• If you will not serve raw beef, cook it yebesele-style for 2–3 minutes in the spiced butter. The flavour survives intact; the silky texture does not.

Variations

• Gomen kitfo, the accompaniment of finely chopped collards cooked with spiced butter and chilli, is frequently eaten as a dish in its own right.
• In Addis Ababa kitfo is often served with a spoonful of ayib worked straight into the meat to soften the heat.

History

A Gurage dish of minced raw beef warmed in niter kibbeh with mitmita, traditionally eaten with kocho and ayib rather than injera.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kitfo?

Kitfo is a main from Ethiopia: minced raw beef warmed with mitmita chili and clarified butter. A Gurage dish of minced raw beef warmed in niter kibbeh with mitmita, traditionally eaten with kocho and ayib rather than injera.

How long does Kitfo take to make?

Kitfo takes 20 min of preparation and 10 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Kitfo?

Yes, within limits. If you will not serve raw beef, cook it yebesele-style for 2–3 minutes in the spiced butter. The flavour survives intact; the silky texture does not.

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

Buy the beef the same day from a butcher you trust and keep it refrigerated until the moment you cut it. Kitfo is served raw or barely warmed, so freshness is the entire dish.