RCP: Niter Kibbeh (Ehtiopian spiced clarified butter)

Just the other day I made (for the first time in a while) Ethiopian Doro Wat (Chicken Stewed in Berbere Sauce). I had posted this recipe, and its ingredient recipes for Berbere and Niter Kibbeh, in the previous fora, but I realized that they haven't been posted here yet, and IMO they're too good to be forgotten. So here they are again, starting with the Ethiopian version of clarified butter or ghee.

Enjoy!
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Niter Kibbeh

This seems to be Ethiopia's answer to ghee. It is the cooking fat that is almost ubiquitous in Ethiopian recipes. Plain butter (clarified preferred) or oil can be substituted in recipes, but the original has a marvelous aroma and flavor.

1 lb unsalted butter
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 1/4" thick slices ginger root
3 cardamom pods (broken open)
1 2" stick cinnamon
3 cloves
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

Substitute an equivalent amount of ground spices for the whole, if you don't have them. Dried or ground ginger can be used in place of fresh.

1) Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.

2) Add all the other ingredients. Simmer over lowest possible heat for 1 hour. Stirring occasionally in the first 10 minutes or so helps get rid of the surface scum.

3) Pour the butter off the solids, straining it through cheesecloth so as to remove the solids and spices (which are discarded). Refrigerated, Niter Kibbeh will keep for several months.

Paul, I've been meaning to thank you for posting this recipe. It works wonderfully well with roasted vegetables, which I add a minute or so before taking the vegetables out of the roaster.

The cardamom and the ginger add a wonderfully exotic aroma.

Did you post the Doro Wat recipe?

Regards, and thanks again, Bob

Thanks, Bob. Yes, the recipes for Doro Wat and Berbere are also posted to this forum. You can find them using the "search" feature.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Damn, I meant to make this and never did. Thanks for the repost.

Jenise,

In your role as "FLDG dishwasher", could you change the title of the root topic of this thread (and also the Berbere and Doro Wat recipes) to have "RCP" rather than the unsearchable "RC" in their names?

-Paul W.

P.S.: Last time I went to make an Indian recipe calling for ghee, I found that my stock of ghee had gone rancid. I used niter kibbeh instead, with nothing but positive results.

Aha! The "edit" feature of this forum software let me change the title to read "RCP" rather than "RC" myself, without intervention from the archangels.

-Paul W.