Top 10 Best Ethiopian Food Dishes

Are you ready to use your fingers instead of cutlery? Eating Ethiopian means leaving behind many stable habits you might have about dinnertime. Eating Ethiopian also means connecting with a totally different culture. Ethiopians use a lot of spices when cooking and some of their popular dishes usually include raw meat.

1. Kitfo
   It is made of minced raw beef marinated in a chili spice blend. Kitfo is typically served just warmed and not cooked. The meat is warmed in a pan with a little butter. Kitfo is usually served with a kind of dry cottage cheese and minced spinach. This dish is served on special occasions.
   
2. Beyainatu
   This dish is vegetarian and consists of tasty and colorful vegetables, potatoes, lentil stews and more. Beyainatu is offered everywhere in Ethiopia as residents due to religious beliefs abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays.
3. Fuul
   It is a stew of cooked fava beans served with vegetable oil, cumin and optionally with chopped parsley, garlic, onion, lemon juice and spicy ingredients. It is served in small metal bowls and usually fits well with bread.
4. Tere siga
   This dish contains cubes of raw red meat. This kind of food is eaten with injera or bread while the meat is dipped in copious amounts of mitmita. Tere siga is one of the few Ethiopian dishes that are eaten with utensils. Furthermore, the ritual of cutting meat is a huge part of the meal.
5. Doro wot
   The main ingredient of this dish is chicken drumsticks or wings. The meat is cooked and served in a hot sauce of butter, onion, chili, cardamom, and berbere. In the midst of this dish usually bobs a boiled egg. The flavor of the egg fits really well with the cooked meat.  This dish is typically offered to a guest as a sign of respect.
6. Enkulal firfir
   It is a typical scrambled eggs dish. It is cooked with Ethiopian spiced butter which is called nitre kibe, enhanced with a combination of green and red peppers, chili, tomatoes, and onions. This dish is accompanied by fresh tasty bread rolls.
7. Shiro
   It is a dish for the fasting days. Shiro is spiced chickpea or bean puree. It may seem a plain dish but it is very tasty. Shiro is often prepared with the addition of minced onions, garlic, and ginger or chopped tomatoes, and chili peppers. Tegabino Shiro is made with spiced legumes, chickpeas or fava beans, flour, oil or butter, and water brought to the boil.
8. To’ hilo
   Barley balls dipped in a sauce made from pulses, flour and spices consist of this dish which is accompanied by a kind of ceremony. A person scoops some barley and makes little balls to be placed on the tray of injera for the visitors in order to pierce, dip, and eat.
9. Dabo firfir
   Torn-up bits of unleavened bread mixed with clarified butter and berbere consist of this dish which is often accompanied by yogurt. You may think that it is not something special but it is a really delicious dish.
   
10. Asa
    It is actually cooked fish. Typically, a fish in Ethiopia like the Nile perch is fried and served entirely whole. It is also eaten by hand with either bread or injera accompanied by a sauce to dip into. Asa tibs are chunks of fish marinated in spices and lime juice and then fried in oil. Usually, paprika, grated garlic, and ginger are added.