If you’ve been keeping up with our recent blogs, you will be aware of the positive effect enset has for farmers in Ethiopia who are part of Ripple Effect projects. Enset is a vital source of food, resources and provides a source of income.
The good news is you can now bring the benefits of enset to your own kitchen! With this handy recipe guide, you can enjoy kocho and an array of accompanying traditional side dishes.
Kocho is an Ethiopian flatbread that can be served with other dishes. It is made from the scraped leaf sheath fibre and pulverised corm of the enset plant. Kocho can be stored underground from three months to twelve months, making it a ready source of nutrition during periods of food scarcity. Kocho is typically used as a utensil to scoop up other foods. Using your right hand to do this is most polite in Ethiopian culture!
All these recipes have been kindly provided by TheEthiopianFood.com. The Ethiopian Food is an online platform dedicated to promoting Ethiopian Food, Ethiopian Restaurants from around the world, as well as all tips and guides packed full of information.
How to make Kocho
Ingredients
- 600g of kocho, fresh from an underground pit or purchased from your local African goods shop
- ¼ cup of water
- Pinch of salt
- 900g of enset leaves, also known as koba
Instructions
- Chop the kocho and remove the fibre from it as thoroughly as possible.
- In a bowl, mix the kocho with the water and salt and knead thoroughly.
- Spread the koba leaves on a clean table and place the dough over them. Roll it and flatten it to about half a centimetre thickness.
- Cover the top of the kocho with the koba leaves and bake it using a heated oven until all sides are cooked. You can also use a flat pan over a hob or fire.
- Finally, remove the kocho from the heat and remove the koba leaves and cut it into squares.
- Note – you can also bake the dough it on a pan over a fire without the koba leaves, instead spreading it onto the pan and rolling it into scrolls when it is cooked.
Now that you have your kocho as the basis for your Ethiopian feast, you need some side dishes to accompany it!
Niter Kebbeh is a spiced, clarified butter that is used in many sweet or savoury Ethiopian dishes. It can be stirred into stews, basted on meats or simply spread onto bread. This version uses onion, garlic, ginger, fenugreek, turmeric, cardamom, allspice and oregano, but you can also use Ethiopian herbs besobela and kosseret. It is made by simmering the herbs with butter for thirty minutes, until the butter separates. Then strain the mixture through a cheesecloth.
Get the recipe for Niter Kebbeh
This creamy and mild cottage cheese is best eaten with a wedge of kocho and an array of other side dishes. It is a staple of traditional Ethiopian cuisine and works well to balance the heat of spicier dishes. It is made by simmering two litres of milk until it is foamy, then adding half a cup of lemon juice. After curds start to form, let it sit for fifteen minutes then drain it through a cheesecloth-lined colander for up to an hour.
Get the recipe for Ayib
Gomen is a spiced, vegetarian side dish of collard greens. It’s a common Ethiopian dish, and accompanies many other kinds of dishes. It is made by simmering collard greens in boiling water for fifteen minutes, squeezing out the liquid and then cooking with onion, niter kibbeh, garlic, ginger and jalapeño peppers. At a push, you can use kale as an alternative!
Get the recipe for Gomen
Kitfo is one of the oldest and most popular dishes in Ethiopia. It is a spiced, minced beef dish that has been compared to beef tartare. It is made by cooking ground beef with niter kibbeh, korerima which is a tangy and sweet Ethiopian herb and mitmita a sweet and malty Ethiopian spice. Kifto can be cooked lightly, medium or even raw, according to your preference!
Get the recipe for KitfoIf you've enjoyed these enset recipes, why not find out more about how Ripple Effect are helping families to fight the threat of famine with enset.
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