Hilbet
This traditional vegetarian dish, hilbet, is a legume paste that is dressed with a thick red sauce known as selsi and served with injera, the iconic sourdough crepe also eaten in Ethiopia. Overall, Eritrean cuisine strongly resembles that of neighbouring Ethiopia, although Eritrean cooking tends to feature more seafood than Ethiopian cuisine. Eritrean dishes also tend to employ less seasoned butter and spices.
- Hilbet flour (made of fava beans, lentils, and fenugreek powder)
- Selsi sauce (made of fried onion, berbere spice, tomatoes)
The legumes are soaked in water for half a day, then dried up and milled into a mixed hilbet flour that is sold in shops. It should still be sifted at home to further remove impurities.
Use 1 l of warm water per 250 g of hilbet flour, mixing continuously until creamy and lightly white in colour. Then, remove from the stove and let cool before mixing again by hand or blender, and seasoning with garlic, salt and chili.
Serve on injera and top with selsi sauce. This recipe was kindly contributed by the EU Delegation to Eritrea.
This traditional vegetarian dish, hilbet, is a legume paste that is dressed with a thick red sauce known as selsi
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