Kulet
Nearly every stewed dish (also called ‘Wot’) in the Ethiopian repertoire calls for
kulet – often lots of it. Kulet consists mainly of three ingredients: finely chopped red onion, grated garlic and ginger. While the quantities of each ingredient can vary depending on the recipe, in kulet you are required to cook the chopped onion first, without any oil, until soft and almost dry. Only then do we add the garlic and ginger along with the oil until the mix caramelises and becomes kulet. During the non-fasting season a spoon of niter kebbeh is also added in the making and scenting of kulet. Its sweetness through slow-cooking and the caramelisation process balances the spices, giving texture and body to sauces that use it as a base. Be patient when chopping as the sauce should be quite smooth rather than chunky. Shallots are prized for their flavour and were the most dominant ingredient in markets during my childhood, but today cooks generally use red onions, which are less laborious to peel and chop. For smaller quantities of kulet, the recipes in this book use oil to avoid burning the onion mix.
from
Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa, by Yohanis Gebreyesus
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