Tsebhi birsen

Ingredients

The lentils

• 400 gred lentils
• rinsed until the water runs clear

The base

• 3large onions, very finely chopped
• 4 tablespoonsoil
• or niter kibbeh
• on a non-fasting day
• 6 clovesgarlic, crushed
• a thumb of ginger, grated
• 3 tablespoonsberbere
• or to taste
• 2 tablespoonstomato purée
• or 2 tomatoes, chopped
• about 1.2 litres water
• salt, to taste

To finish

• black pepper
• a squeeze of lemon, optional

To serve

• injera, the sour flatbread
• hamli, the cooked greens
• alicha, a mild stew
• ayib, fresh curd cheese
• on a non-fasting day

Directions

1. Taste a little before committing three tablespoons. This dish is meant to be hot. Reduce it if you need to. The onions are cooked dry first. Chop the onions very finely. Put them in a dry pot with no fat.
2. Cook them over a medium heat, stirring. That takes fifteen to twenty minutes. Chop them as finely as you can. They should almost disappear into the stew.
3. Add the oil once the liquid has gone. Stir it through the softened onions. Cook them five minutes more. Fry it for three or four minutes. Stir it constantly. Keep the heat moderate and keep stirring. Add a splash of water if it threatens to stick.
4. Add the purée or chopped tomatoes. Cook them for five minutes. Rinse them until the water runs clear. Add the rinsed lentils to the pot. Stir them into the base.
5. Add the water. Red lentils need no soaking. Bring it to a simmer. Stir it regularly and scrape the base. Use a heavy pot, which catches less. Simmer it for thirty to forty minutes. They dissolve into a thick purée. Add salt once the lentils have softened.
6. Salt added early can slow the softening. It should be thick and spoonable. Keep hot water beside the pot. Taste it and correct the salt. Grind over black pepper.
7. Serve it on injera. Eating is done with the right hand. Add water when reheating it. Stir it constantly as it reheats.

Technique

• Cook the onions dry first, with no fat at all, for fifteen to twenty minutes until the liquid they release has evaporated. That is the foundation of the dish, it deepens them in a way frying cannot, and it is the step people skip.
• Three large onions for 400 g of lentils looks excessive and is correct. The onions are half the body of the stew — chop them as finely as you can, so they almost disappear into it.
• Fry the berbere in the fat for three or four minutes, stirring constantly. That removes its raw dusty edge and brings out the aromatics; an unfried berbere tastes harsh. Keep the heat moderate — it burns quickly and burnt berbere is bitter and unusable.
• Taste your berbere before committing three tablespoons. Blends vary enormously in heat, from moderate to fierce.
• Rinse the lentils until the water runs clear. Red lentils carry a lot of surface starch and dust, and rinsing gives a cleaner stew with less foam.
• Stir regularly and scrape the base. Lentils sink and catch, and a caught pot tastes burnt throughout with no way back. Use a heavy pot, and stir just as attentively when reheating.
• The lentils are meant to collapse completely into a thick purée. Anyone expecting whole lentils will think it has gone wrong — red lentils are used precisely because they dissolve.
• Take it off looser than you want it. It thickens considerably as it stands, so keep hot water beside the pot.
• This is not a compromise dish that happens to lack meat. It is a central dish of the cuisine that is vegan by design, made constantly because Orthodox fasting excludes animal products on most Wednesdays and Fridays plus long periods before feasts.
• On a fasting day use oil; on other days niter kibbeh gives more depth. The oil version is the one most often made and is not lesser.
• The sourness of injera against a hot berbere stew is the balance of the meal, not incidental. A fasting platter, beyaynetu, puts several vegan dishes on one injera and is genuinely one of the great vegan meals.
• Tsebhi birsen in Tigrinya is misir wat in Amharic. Eritrea and Ethiopia share a great deal of food alongside a difficult political history, and the atlas records both without adjudicating national claims.

Substitutions

• Oil replaces niter kibbeh for the fasting version, which is the one most often made.
• Ghee with a pinch of cardamom is the nearest substitute for niter kibbeh.
• Tomato can be added for body and acidity or left out for a purer berbere flavour.
• Less berbere makes a considerably milder stew.
• Split red lentils are what this needs; whole brown or green lentils will not collapse the same way.
• Bread or rice replaces injera where teff flatbread is unavailable.

Variations

• Misir wat is the Amharic name for the same dish.
• Kik alicha, made with yellow split peas and turmeric, is the mild counterpart.
• Shiro, made from ground chickpea or broad bean flour, is the other great fasting stew.
• Hamli and gomen, the cooked greens, sit alongside on the same platter.
• Beyaynetu is the combined fasting platter of several such dishes.
• Zigni, the hot berbere meat stew, is the non-fasting red dish.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tsebhi birsen?

Tsebhi birsen is a soup & stew from Eritrea: red lentil stew simmered with berbere and onion, the fasting-day mainstay.

How long does Tsebhi birsen take to make?

Tsebhi birsen takes 15 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Tsebhi birsen?

Yes, within limits. Oil replaces niter kibbeh for the fasting version, which is the one most often made. Ghee with a pinch of cardamom is the nearest substitute for niter kibbeh. Tomato can be added for body and acidity or left out for a purer berbere flavour. Less berbere makes a considerably milder stew. Split red lentils are what this needs; whole brown or green lentils will not collapse the same way. Bread or rice replaces injera where teff flatbread is unavailable.