Chicken drumsticks baked long and slow with a collection of spices (no herbs) in an Ethiopian style. They’re baked and baked and baked until the meat almost falls off the bone.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you hopefully glanced through the review I did recently of the memoir by Marcus Samuelsson a couple of weeks ago. His book Yes, Chef: A Memoir was really interesting to me. He has quite a story to tell of his life and he’s still a young man! One particular thing he mentioned was about discovering the spice mixture, berbere. He was born in Ethiopia
Having never even heard of berbere before, I wanted to try it. I had all the ingredients to make it; it was just a matter of combining them. So here’s what’s in it:
There is one rather unusual ingredient there – fenugreek. It’s a frequent visitor to Indian cuisine. I had some of the dried seeds in my spice pantry. Here’s what they look like, see photo at right. I didn’t know a thing about fenugreek. So, Wikipedia to the rescue. Charred fenugreek seeds have been recovered from Iraq, (radiocarbon dating to 4000 BC) as well as desiccated seeds from the tomb of Tutankhamen. Cato the Elder lists fenugreek with clover and vetch as crops grown to feed cattle. Both leaves and seeds are used. Some cultures make a tea from the leaves. And it’s frequently used as part of the flavoring in imitation maple syrup. Imagine that? India is the largest producer of the seeds. Fenugreek was (is?) given to new mothers to help increase lactation. It’s also known as an aide to prevent diabetes. Amazing! Who knew? I ground up the fenugreek in my spice grinder. Since I’ve had the fenugreek for about 2-3 years, I increased the amount I used since I know spices lose their potency the longer they sit on a shelf. By itself it doesn’t taste like much. I think it’s used in curries, although it doesn’t taste like curry at all.
Anyway, that’s what’s in it. So I combined all those ingredients, mixed them up and there you have berbere. I think it can be very spicy hot! The predominant flavoring is paprika. The recipe called for a T. of hot paprika. I don’t have hot, but I do have half-sharp that I bought the last time we visited Budapest, which is a mixture of hot and mild. That’s what I used. Some people use cayenne instead. Whoa! That really would be hot!
In this chicken dish you have the option of using half of the mixture, or all of it. The more you use, the hotter it will be, obviously! The chicken pieces are lightly coated with peanut oil (or butter), then you sprinkle the berbere all over them. They’re roasted in a 325° oven for 90 minutes, all wrapped up in foil. Then you remove the foil from the top and put it back in the oven for about 30 minutes or so. The originator of this recipe indicated that he prefers the chicken to be meltingly tender, falling-off-the-bone tender, so he says you can continue to bake it for a long time. The chicken isn’t browned – it’s just rubbed with oil, tossed with the berbere, and baked. Easy, easy. In the photo at right they’re reversed – first you bake in foil, then you remove the top foil and bake longer. The chicken creates a lot of juice – it can be used to baste the chicken if you have time, and also to drizzle over rice as a side dish.
So, what’s the verdict? Loved it. The combo of spices is just amazing. Well, maybe not amazing. Excellent for sure. Our 18-year old grandson said “wow, Grandma, first I got the heat, then the flavors just kind of exploded in my mouth.” There were 3 of us at the table, and everybody LOVED IT. As a side note, if you make this and have extra berbere left over, you can use it to make a paste/sauce to dip your food into. Scroll down almost to the bottom of the post for the recipe for Awaze Paste. I think Marcus Samuelsson did an interview with Saveur magazine – I found a recipe for the barbere there too. It’s different. Every recipe is just a little different – but they ALL contain paprika, fenugreek and some kind of heat (most Ethiopian recipes use dried chiles – milder versions use just paprika – well, paprika’s from a pepper too, but most Hungarian peppers are mild). You can also make a wet rub for meats – use berbere and some olive oil and/or some red wine until it’s a spreading consistency.
What I liked: the spice combo is really, really tasty. Next time I’ll use nearly all of the spices on the 3 lbs. of chicken – it wasn’t that hot, really. I’d totally cover the chicken in the spices. The other great thing is this dish is super-easy. Oil, rub, wrap in foil and forget it for nearly 2 hours. How much easier could it be?
What I didn’t like: nothing at all. I’ll use more spice next time, though.
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Chicken Berbere (Ethiopian Style)
Recipe By: Simply Recipes (Elise) and it came from Hank Shaw
Serving Size: 8
NOTES: You can do this with chicken wings too, but don’t use breasts – they will dry out.
3 pounds chicken legs — thighs or wings (3 to 4)
2 tablespoons peanut oil — or melted butter (or ghee)
Salt Lemons or limes for serving
SPICE MIX:
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon hot paprika — or 1-2 teaspoons cayenne
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1. Preheat oven to 325°. Coat the drumsticks in the peanut oil or melted butter, then sprinkle with salt.
2. Mix all the spices together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, mix half of the spice mix with the chicken, then arrange the drumsticks in a casserole dish lined with enough foil to make a package; you will be cooking the chicken covered for most of the time.
3. Sprinkle more of the spice mix over the drumsticks. You can use all of the spice mix, or stop whenever you want. The more mix, the spicier the chicken. (I would use at least 3/4 of it.) Fold over the foil to seal up the chicken and bake for 90 minutes.
4. At 90 minutes, open up the foil packet to let the chicken continue to cook uncovered. Continue cooking for at least another 15 minutes, and as long as you like. If you want the meat to almost fall off the bone, cook uncovered for another 30-45 minutes.
5. To serve, baste with a little of the sauce that forms at the bottom of the pan, and use the rest to flavor some rice or flatbread. Squeeze some lemon or lime juice over the chicken right before you serve it. A green salad is a good side dish, too.
Per Serving: 276 Calories; 19g Fat (62.1% calories from fat); 23g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 103mg Cholesterol; 233mg Sodium.
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