Plant-Based Kitfo

Mitmita is a ground spice mixture used in Ethiopian cooking. It contains African bird’s eye chili peppers, which give it its orange-red color, along with other spices such as cardamom, cloves, and salt, and sometimes seasonings including cumin, cinnamon, and ginger. Here it’s used to season a ground plant-based mixture that’s served with traditional injera bread.

Makes 4 servings | Active Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes

Chef's Notes

Kitfo is typically made with niter kibbeh, a clarified butter infused with herbs and spices. To avoid butter, you can infuse oil with spices such as cardamom, fenugreek seeds, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, oregano, basil, and turmeric. The longer infused oil sits, the more intense the flavor of the spices.

Step 1: Making the Dish

3 tablespoons spiced oil
3⁄4 pound plant-based ground meat substitute
11⁄2 to 2 tablespoons mitmita
1 teaspoon black cardamom
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
11⁄2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add all the remaining ingredients and cook, stirring and mixing the ingredients together with a spatula.

To serve the kitfo raw, cook just until the plant-based meat is warmed and the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

To serve the kitfo cooked, continue cooking and mixing until the plant- based meat is either partially or thoroughly cooked through.

Serve the kitfo immediately, preferably with injera bread.

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