Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs (2024)

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Steak night, Ethiopian style.

Ethiopian food is delicious and sophisticated. This Awaze Beef Tibs recipe shows you why — a steak and vegetable dinner ready in less than 30 minutes.

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Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs (1)

Everyone loves a good beef dinner, right? Now make it Ethiopian and you will love it even more. Ethiopian food may be a less-common cuisine than Mexican or Italian. But it is certainly one of the more delicious and sophisticated. This Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs recipe shows you why — in a meal ready in less than 30 minutes.

I was fortunate to get this recipe by profiling Mary Johns of Open Kitchen DC, a company founded on connecting people and cultures through (delicious) food events in the D.C. area. Mary held an event at Hawwi Ethiopian Restaurantin Alexandria, VA, where owner Hanane included this recipe.

You’ll also like: Trini Green Seasoning and Thai Coconut Chicken Curry

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs (2)

First, What Is Ethiopian Food?

Enjoying Ethiopian food means a satisfying, often spicy, feast of many small dishes eaten with no utensils, all laid out on a wide sheet of spongy injera, a fermented flatbread of sourdough starter and teff. Ethiopia is a large, East African country at around nine degrees latitude. (In other words, it’s very close to the equator and very hot.)

The cuisine of this landlocked nation evolved as a meat- and vegetable-centric one, focused on simple, often spicy stews and numerous cooked dishes served spooned atop teff injera. Teff is an ancient grain native to East Africa, gluten free and loaded with protein and iron. American Ethiopian restaurants often cut their injera with wheat, since teff is pricey and harder to source in the States.

The Washington Post did a lengthy article a while back about Ethiopian food. Check it out here.

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs (3)

What Are Tibs? Ethiopian Food Vocabulary 101

Some relevant food terms (hat tip to Pop Sugar for the help):

  • Injera: soft, spongy, fermented flatbread made of sourdough starter and teff, cooked on a griddle. Injera is used used as a utensil to pick up food.
  • Tibs: a dish with cubed beef or lamb
  • Awaze: a spicy red pepper paste blend. Awaze may include ingredients like onions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, and more.
  • Berbere: a hot Ethiopian spice blend common to Ethiopian cooking made of chili peppers, ginger, garlic, cardamom, onions, cloves, cinnamon, basil, and salt.

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs (4)

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs: Recipe Notes

Traditionally, this dish should be eaten with your hands, using injera as a “utensil” to scoop bites of food. But if injera is not easy or convenient to make or find, substitute rice.

Berbere can be easily found online, and is an essential flavor to the dish. It adds a good amount of heat as well.

This meal should come together in less than 30 minutes. Be sure the get the pan nice and hot before adding the beef. That way, you will get a nice brown sear on the meat.

Do you like Ethiopian food? What are your favorite dishes?

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs (5)

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs (6)

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs Recipe

A new favorite beef dinner from an ancient cuisine, adapted from Hawwi Ethiopian Restaurant, courtesy of Open Kitchen DC.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Course: dinner

Cuisine: ethiopian

Keywords:: beef, dinner, easy, ethiopian, injera, tibs

Servings: 2 people

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Ingredients

  • 1 pound ribeye steak, trimmed and cut into thin slices
  • 1/4 onion, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 teaspoon berbere spice blend
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon clarified butter
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup fresh chopped tomatoes (optional)

Instructions

  • Purée or mash the fresh ginger and garlic into a paste.

  • In a bowl, mix together the steak, onion, rosemary, ginger, garlic, berbere and salt. Place a pan on medium heat. Add the oil and butter. When the pan is hot, place the spiced meat and onion mixture into the hot pan and cook for about 5 minutes.

    PRO TIP: Do not stir the meat right away. Let it sit in the hot pan for the first couple of minutes to brown on the bottom. Also, make sure you use a wide-enough pan so the meat does not steam. Steaming also prevents browning.

  • Add ½ cup water and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Add fresh chopped tomatoes if desired. Serve with rice, or with injera (which can be purchased from a local Ethiopian market).

Ethiopian Awaze Beef Tibs (2024)

FAQs

How do you pronounce Awaze? ›

Pronounced Ah-wah-zay. Awaze is an Ethiopian chili paste, a staple in the cuisine, made with one of their more famous spice blends, berbere. It's a sauce, it's a condiment, it's a marinade.

What does Awaze Tibs taste like? ›

Made with tender, boneless leg of lamb, this quick-cooking staple of Ethiopian home cooking is flavored with spicy, smoky, tangy awaze sauce.

What is chikina tibs? ›

Chikina Tibs ጭቅና ጥብስ. This term refers to a beef dish made with the tenderloins of the cow, considered to be a lesser cut of beef.

What does Tibs mean in Ethiopian? ›

Inguday is the Ethiopian word for mushrooms; tibs means something sautéed, usually meat, but mushrooms can also get the tibs treatment. Here, meaty portobello mushrooms and tender green beans are cooked in an explosion of spices that strike the perfect balance between savory, spicy, and sweet.

How do you pronounce Berbere Ethiopian? ›

Berbere Seasoning pronounced “bar-ba-ray

What is the most popular Ethiopian food? ›

Sliced beef or lamb, pan-fried in butter, garlic and onion, tibs is one of the most popular dishes among Ethiopians. 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.

Are Ethiopian dishes healthy? ›

Ethiopian cuisine is not only healthy and nutritious, but also a great way to expose children to new flavors and teach them about another part of the world at the same time. What kids will love most about Ethiopian food is that you use your hands — exclusively! Though a tad messy at times, it's the perfect finger food.

What does Awaze mean? ›

awaze (uncountable) A spicy sauce or paste, made with chili peppers and usually reddish in colour, used in Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine.

What is Ethiopian breakfast called? ›

Another breakfast dish, fatira is a thin, flaky pastry with scrambled eggs and honey in the middle. Unlike firfir, fatira is a regional dish—it's mostly enjoyed in Harar, a city in the eastern part of the country.

What is the Ethiopian word for stew? ›

The word WAT means a stew, and the basic spice mixture used in almost all stews are BERBERE. The recipes are economical, easy and tasty, and always served with INJERA (flatbread).

What is the difference between Tibs and Derek Tibs? ›

And they're pan-cooked with the sauce until they're cooked through, and the sauce has thickened. On the other hand, Derek Tibs takes on a slightly different form than traditional Tibs. They are usually prepared with less sauce but more dry seasonings such as garlic powder or ginger powder.

What is disrespectful in Ethiopian culture? ›

As is the case in many Islamic countries, Ethiopians (of all religions) customarily reserve the left hand for ablutions, so it is considered both rude and unhygienic to use that potentially unclean hand to shake hands, to eat, or to pass money or any other object.

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