Ethiopian Spiced Chicken Meatballs with Linguine

The Ethiopian spice mix, Berbere, is so good that I decided to try it in a completely different dish. Inspired by a John Torode recipe where he uses Indian spices in meatballs (delicious) - I have tried it with my favourite spices. The recipe to make the Berbere Spice is at the bottom of this page.

Berbere is usually used in an Ethiopian curry I often make called Doro Wat (recipe earlier on this blog). Its unfortunately not found in many supermarkets but you can find it in spice shops or online. Either way - I make it myself, so have added the recipe. Its amazing and makes an awesome curry. Here I have used it to flavour the meatballs. Lovely.

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts, skin removed
1/4 cup Berbere spice mix
1 onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
100g white breadcrumbs
50ml milk
200ml cream
1 tsp. lime pickle
200g linguine
chives for garnish

Method:

Fry the onion, garlic and spices in 1 tablespoon of oil on a low/medium heat until onion cooked and spices fragrant. Put into a bowl to cool. Mix the breadcrumbs with the milk and add to the onions. Using a hand blender, blitz the chicken breasts until well chopped and mix in with the spiced onion mix. Combine well and make into small 1 inch meatballs.

Boil the linguine in a large pot of boiling water until cooked. Heat the second tablespoon of oil and fry the meatballs on all sides until browned and lower the heat. Add the cream and stir well. Add the lime pickle and season with a little pepper.

Serve the meatballs on the pasta and garnish with snipped chives. Enjoy!

Berbere Spice Mix

I think its always good to have a great selection of herbs and spices in the store cupboard. I ensure I always have the list of ingredients for Berbere Spice Mix as its so hard to buy and so easy to make. And it stores well in a dry cupboard.

2 tsp. coriander seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
Seeds of 4 cardamom pods
4 cloves
4 dried red chillies, broken into pieces

3 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. ground all spice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. turmeric
Method:

With a dry hot frying pan, toast the seeds - down to and including the cloves and chillies. Shake the pan and ensure it doesn't burn. Tip into a bowl to cool a little. Now using either a hand mixer or a pestle and mortar, blend (or crush) until ground. Add the rest of the spices and stir together. You have your spice mix!

This recipe makes about 1/2 cup. You can use 1/4 cup in this recipe and make a curry with the rest another night! Enjoy!