Beef tibs (Ethiopian sautéed beef)
Spiced beef seared hot, then tossed with onion, jalapeño, rosemary and spiced butter, an Ethiopian favorite ready in half an hour.
- 40 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.86 a serving
- 590 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 1¼ lb sirloin steak tips
- 3 tbsp butter, divided
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 2 jalapeños, cut into strips
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 tomato, diced
From your pantry
- 3 cups water
- 1 tbsp paprika
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
Each serving has about 590 calories, 36 g protein, 64 g carbs and 21 g fat, and costs about $3.86 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No fresh rosemary? Fresh thyme works.
- No tomatoes? Roma tomatoes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice, water and of salt in a and .
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low, and cook 18 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Stir the paprika, cayenne, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and salt together. Cut the beef into 1-inch pieces and it in the spice mix.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Dolly’s tip: This mix stands in for berbere, the Ethiopian spice blend. If you can find berbere, use 1 tbsp instead.1 tbsp of the butter in a large over high.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
High heat
the beef in batches 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until browned outside and the middle reads 145°F.
Sear. Searing means cooking the outside of meat or fish in a hot pan, without moving it, until a deep brown crust forms. The crust is packed with flavor, and it only forms on a dry surface.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the moment it goes in, and it lets go of the pan on its own when the crust is ready.
High heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
Move it to a plate.
Turn the heat to medium and add the rest of the butter, the onion and jalapeños. Cook 4 minutes, stirring, until the onion .
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Stir in the garlic, ginger and rosemary sprigs for 1 minute, , then add the tomato and cook 2 minutes more.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Return the beef and its juices and 1 minute to coat in the spiced butter.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Pull out the rosemary stems and serve the tibs over the rice.
Dolly’s tip: In Ethiopia tibs are scooped up with injera, a spongy flatbread. Rice or warm flatbread works too.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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