When I first moved to Ethiopia, I lived with a host family for about 3 months. That's where my host mom, Gete, taught me to make tikil gomen. It was so odd to her that any man wanted to learn how to cook that she was actually nervous to have me around when she prepared injeera or firfir. But eventually we got to be great kitchen pals and I had a blast as her sous chef who could speak only about 8 words of Amharic. Anyhow, this is exactly how she makes her tikil gomen, which is just mild, sautéed cabbage (tikil gomen literally is just 'cabbage' in Amharic). It's a nice, lighter and milder option to serve with the more flavorful wots (stews) for a meal. It can be served hot or cold.
Gete's backyard kitchen. It's humble, but it gets the job done.
Inside the kitchen/pantry (you can just see the edge of the wood stove on the left). This is where I learned how to make the best dishes Ethiopia has to offer from the one and only Gete!
My host fam!
Prep time: 1 cocktail
4 TBSP oil
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, sliced on the diagonal into 1/2-inch ovals
1/2 head cabbage, core removed and sliced into 3/4-1 inch strips
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp tumeric
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno, chopped
In a large pan that has a lid, heat the oil on medium. When hot, add onions and cover. Let the onions cook for 5 minutes, removing the lid once to stir.
Add carrots, and keep the pot covered for 5 more minutes, opening it once again halfway through to stir.
Add cabbage and keep covered another 5 minutes, opening once again halfway through to stir.
Add salt, ginger, tumeric, garlic, and jalepeno. Cover it all up again and cook until cabbage has softened fully and the moisture in the bottom of the pan has all cooked off, about 15-20 minutes, removing the lid only about every 3 minutes or so to stir. Viola! Gete's tikil gomen is ready!
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