Tigrayan dried beef (Qanta)

This is beef jerky Tigray style. It is used in stews, or snacked on as it is. Drying your own meat is common practice in Tigray, the northernmost state of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Credit: Murdoch Books / Alicia Taylor

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  2 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) beef top round steak, or any other lean cut
• 2 tsp berbere spice mixture (see Note), or medium chilli powder (not dilik)
• ¼ tsp ground cardamom
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 70°C (160°F). (You could use a dehydrator if you have one.)
2. Cut the meat into as thin strips as you possibly can to reduce the drying time. Pat it dry with paper towel, trying to remove as much excess liquid as possible. Place in a bowl.
3. Mix all the spices together with the oil and add to the bowl, then stir to coat all the meat evenly.
4. Place the strips evenly apart on an oven rack with a tray underneath to catch drips.
5. Let the strips dry in the oven for an hour, turning them at the 30-minute mark. From there, check on them every 30 minutes. The drying process can take 2–3 hours. How long it will take depends on the thickness of the strips and how much fat is on the meat.
6. They are ready when they start to stiffen, with cracks emerging and the strips bending. Store in an airtight container. Traditionally qanta is kept for months at room temperature.

 

NOTE

• Berbere is often incorrectly translated as chilli. The Portuguese brought chilli to East Africa from South America in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. From these original chillies came an indigenous variety, brown chilli peppers, endemic to modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. These peppers are dried out and blended to create a unique chilli mix, giving birth to berbere. It is a unique blend, combining more than 20 different spices ground up: coriander, cumin, green cardamom, whole cloves, turmeric, ginger, garlic, red chilli, onion, salt and many more. Dilik is a chilli paste that is also commonly used in the food of Tigray but the paste form not what you need for this dish.

• You can buy berbere at African groceries and some specialist retailers, or make your own spice powder mix. Use the spices listed for dilik in this recipe.

This is an edited extract from Tekebash and Saba by Saba Alemayoh, published by Murdoch Books (RRP $45.00). Photography by Alicia Taylor.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.