The Ethiopian Menu

Ethiopian food, usually aromatic with cardamom, ginger, rue seed and bishop’s weed, may also be spicy with red pepper (look for the words berbere, awaze or mit’mit’a), or rich with spiced butter. Many dishes are based on beef (sega), lamb (beg) or chicken (doro), but others are vegetarian, and most Ethiopian restaurants have vegetarian platters. Everything is eaten with the fingers using swatches of injera bread.

Nearly every Ethiopian menu includes the following dishes:

*Wat’: meat stew flavored with red pepper.

*Alich’a: stew flavored with green peppers.

*T’ibs: meat stir-fried with onions and spices.

*Kitfo: diced or ground raw beef with butter and spices.

*Gored gored: cubes of raw beef with butter.

*Fitfit, firfir or filfil: injera bread mixed with stew or other ingredients.