On our visit to Baltimore, we found a small Ethiopian grocer next to the Tabor restaurant. After eating at the restaurant, we loaded up on the irreplaceable spices that make Ethiopian cuisine, Ethiopian. Having lived in Ethiopia for almost 6 years, I knew what I wanted and the staff was very helpful, with quantities and recipes. They even had frozen injera(Ethiopian bread)! How could we forget the quanta (spiced dried beef)? Halfway back to Pennsylvania, I remembered 🙁
“One monkey don’t stop no show.” I searched the internet for a recipe, purchased 4lbs of cheaper sirloin beef ($3.99/lb), sliced and spiced it with my now on hand Ethiopian spices and loaded it into my multiple tray dehydrator. My kitchen smelled Ethiopian. Success 😀
I made some slight changes to Yewoin’s recipe but the essentials are there. I worried about the quantity of salt needed to help preserve the meat and increased that, used ground cardamon because I didn’t have any “false cardamon” and used Port wine because that’s what I had. I stored the dried beef in glass jars and refrigerated it (just in case). The beef can be eaten as a snack but I wanted it to include in Ethiopian stews (wots).
Quanta
4 lbs sirloin beef, trimmed of fat and sliced (twice as thick as beef jerky)
2 tbsp berbere powder
3 tbsp Port
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
3/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
Mix everything together, marinate overnight, then place, in one layer, on food dehydrator trays. Dehydrate on HIGH for 6-8 hours until crispy dry.
Break into pieces, store in glass jars and refrigerate until ready to use.
Intriguing, this is all new to me. Looks and sounds very good indeed!
Try an Ethiopian restaurant in London when you are there. Unlike many African countries, Ethiopia has a sophisticated cuisine that is comparable to Indian cuisine.
Ooh, good tip. Will investigate!
I’d eat the beef, but having lived over an Ethiopian shop and bakery for many years, I will never eat injera again. In summer the cooking smell is so ripe it’s equivalent to a railroad car full of hobos during the depression, in sauna temperatures. The Ethiopian shop owners were very nice though 🙂
Ethiopians, in general, are very nice people. Because injera is fermented, you must have been put off by the smell of the process. Chose better living accommodations 😀
I did! The smell was OK in the winter, but awful in summer. Put off is an understatement.
I love Ethiopian food and it’s great to see a recipe for quanta! Thanks, Rosemary! I hope that you are well!
Fabulous!