Ingudai tibs or Inguday tibs is an Ethiopian mushroom sauté that is simple to make but tastes wonderfully complex. Ingudai means mushroom and tibs means to saute.

Traditional tibs recipes use an Ethiopian spice blend called berbere. My berbere recipe is here.

If you can’t find Ethiopian berbere spice for this recipe you can make your own berbere. Or you could get away with substituting Berbere with Indian garam Masala and a little cayenne or paprika. Take a look at the spices in Ethiopian berbere powder and Indian garam Masala powder.

Ethiopian Berbere    Indian Garam Masala
Coriander                           Coriander
Cumin                                  Cumin
Cinnamon                          Cinnamon
Cloves                                 Cloves
Cardamom                        Cardamom
Pepper                                Peppercorns
Nutmeg                              Nutmeg
Fenugreek
Cayenne pepper or paprika
Ginger
Garlic

The spices are almost the same, expect for the added fenugreek, cayenne or paprika, ginger and garlic in berbere. If you used equal amounts of garam masala and cayenne or paprika, you will get pretty close to Berbere flavor ( not traditional, but still tasty).

This mushroom ingudai tibs recipe on mushroom info by Ethiopian restaurant chefs uses portobello mushrooms and sounds delicious.

Ethiopian Sautéed Mushrooms with Onions and Peppers or Ingudai Tibs Recipe

serves about 6 as a side dish

2 tablespoons clarified butter or olive oil
1 large green pepper, cut into strips
1 large red onion, cut into strips
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 lb button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered

for the spice mix  (Awaze sauce)
2 teaspoons Ethiopian berbere (substitute with 1 teaspoon garam masala + 1 teaspoon paprika)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon white wine (substitute with lemon juice)

Heat butter or oil in your largest skillet. Add onions, peppers and tomato. Cook on medium high heat till the vegetables have softened a little, about 4 minutes. Then add mushrooms. Crank up heat to high. Mix all ingredients for spice mix and add to the mushrooms.  Sauté on high for about 3 minutes or till mushrooms are done. Add salt at the end. Garnish with cilantro or parsley. Serve with rice, bread or Ethiopian Injera.

When it comes to complex, spicy flavors, there is nothing to beat Ethiopian food. The heady aromas of fenugreek, cardamom, cloves and cumin constitute some of my favorite flavor combinations. And I love their communal eating concept – everyone sits around and eats from the same plate. (For my Ethiopian fix, I go to Meskerem Restaurant in Washington DC and highly recommend it).

I had always assumed that the Berbere spice mixture used in Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisines was difficult to make. But then I saw an easy, almost authentic version of Berbere in the ‘Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant’ cook book. (I say ‘almost’ authentic because traditional Berbere has ajwain and rue berries, this recipe does not.) I tried the recipe and it was really good. And my kitchen even smelled a little like Meskerem Restaurant!

I made a few changes to the recipe – I call for less cardamom than the original recipe. I felt the cardamom was a little too dominant in Moosewood’s recipe. I also used less dried chiles.

Ethiopian Berbere Spice
about 3 tablespoons
Adapted from the cook book, Sundays At Moosewood Restaurant

Cumin Seeds – 2 tsp
Whole Cloves – 4
Cardamom Seeds – 1/2 tsp (crush cardamom pods with a wooden spoon to remove the seeds)
Whole Black Peppercorns – 1/2 tsp
Whole Allspice – 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds – 1 tsp
Coriander Seeds – 1/2 tsp

Dried Red Chiles – 5
Fresh Ginger, minced – 1/2 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Sweet Hungarian Paprika – 2 1/2 tbsp
Ground Cinnamon – 1/8 tsp
Ground cloves – 1/8 tsp

Heat a skillet on medium-low. Add the first 7 ingredients (cumin seeds through coriander seeds) to the skillet. Toast the spices, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes.

Cool the toasted spices and add them to a spice grinder. Add all the other remaining ingredients to the spice grinder as well. Grind to a fine powder.

Store Berbere in an air tight container in the fridge.

A slightly different version of Berbere is on the Congo cook book site.

How to use Berbere

The classic use for Berbere is in Wats (stews). Make Yemeser Wat by cooking lentils with some Berbere
Try sprinkling Berbere on french fries
Or make spicy ketchup using Berbere, recipe here
Do a Berbere stir fry using assorted vegetables or tofu
Berbere will also work well in any recipe that calls for Garam masala because Berbere and Garam masala have several ingredients in common.