Spiced Ethiopian Cottage Cheese with Collard Greens (Ayib Be Gomen Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

What is ayib made of? ›

Ayib, a traditional Ethiopian cottage cheese, is a popular milk product consumed by the various ethnic groups of the country. It is made from sour milk after the butter is removed by churning.

Gomen is traditionally made with collard greens but kale works equally well. You can also use spinach but I prefer the crispiness of the collards or kale.

The texture of ayib will remind you of goat cheese, which you can use as a substitute. Goat cheese has a more assertive flavor, and the ayib adds a nice lactic element to the dish without taking over.

"[This is] a soft cheese with a mild flavor, similar to a ricotta or cottage cheese," explains recipe developer Kara Barrett. Likewise, the berbere isn't all that different from spices common to North American or Asian cooking. "[It's] a traditional Ethiopian spice that is hot and peppery.

In Lebanon, where it is known as kebab cheese, it is cubed, threaded on skewers, grilled over charcoal, and then sold as a popular street snack. Its taste is salty but mild with a tangy flavour.

Fenugreek seeds are ground and used as a key ingredient in the Ethiopian berbere. The seeds are also used to make injera and niter kibbeh. Cardamom is the third most expensive spice after saffron and vanilla. The Ethiopian cardamom is known as "false cardamom".

Doro wat (wett)

It is the most popular traditional food in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Considered the national dish, it is the food of choice during formal and informal gatherings, eaten together as part of a group who share a communal bowl and basket of injera.

In their adherence to strict fasting, Ethiopian cooks have developed a rich array of cooking oil sources—besides sesame and safflower—for use as a substitute for animal fats which are forbidden during fasting periods. Ethiopian cuisine also uses nug (also spelled noog, also known as "niger seed").

Ayib (aka Ayibe) is a soft Ethiopian fresh cheese similar to cottage cheese. It is usually made at home or through farmhouse production, as a by-product of making butter (just as cottage cheese is in western cuisine.)

Does Ethiopian food have cheese? ›

Ethiopian food is made either of vegitables, cheese or meat eaten with Injera(like bread made of grains of teff). Ethiopians are religous, they don't eat pork or exotic sea food other than some species of fish.

The South Indian bread appam feels so much like Eritrean/Ethiopian injera! Both flatbreads have spongy centers that make them perfect for soaking up sauces. Injera is made from fermented teff flour, while appam is fermented rice.

So far, these two high-protein snacks are neck in neck when considering protein, calcium and calories. But one clear distinction steers the choice: Cottage cheese can be loaded with sodium. Just 1 cup of cottage cheese can deliver 8 to 9 times the sodium found in Greek yogurt.

Healthy ways to enjoy cottage cheese

You can cut calories and fat from your diet and promote healthy weight loss by substituting cottage cheese for other foods. Here are some suggestions: Add cottage cheese to your morning smoothie. Top cottage cheese with fresh berries, mango, or pineapple for a healthy snack.

Injera is made with teff, a tiny, round grain that flourishes in the highlands of Ethiopia. While teff is very nutritious, it contains practically no gluten. This makes teff ill-suited for making raised bread, however injera still takes advantage of the special properties of yeast.

Kocho is an Ethiopian flatbread that can be served with other dishes. It is made from the scraped leaf sheath fibre and pulverised corm of the enset plant. Kocho can be stored underground from three months to twelve months, making it a ready source of nutrition during periods of food scarcity.

To make traditional niter kibbeh, you start with unsalted butter and then slowly simmer with the spices and herbs for about an hour. As the butter simmers it separates and the solids are skimmed off to make a spiced clarified butter.