Sudo Menu

Ethiopian Spices: Berbere, Mitmita, Niter Kibbeh and Awaze

Sudo Menu Editorial · 3 November 2026

If you have eaten an Ethiopian meal, you have tasted berbere, even if you did not know its name. The deep red colour of a lentil stew, the warmth of a chicken wot, the slow heat that builds as you eat: much of it comes from a handful of spice blends and one remarkable spiced butter. Knowing them makes it much easier to read a menu and choose a dish you will enjoy.

Berbere (በርበሬ)

Berbere is the foundation of Ethiopian cooking. The word means “pepper” in Amharic, and the blend is built on dried red chillies, but a good berbere is much more than heat. Recipes vary from family to family, and many households still make their own, but a typical blend includes:

The chillies are often dried in the sun, then mixed with the other spices, sometimes toasted, and ground into a fine powder. The result is earthy, aromatic and spicy rather than simply hot.

Where you taste it

Any dish called a wot (ወጥ) is built on berbere: misir wot (red lentils), doro wot (chicken), key wot (beef) and many more. The usual method is to cook onions slowly until they almost melt, then add berbere and oil or butter, and let the sauce simmer for a long time. That slow cooking is what makes a wot rich instead of harsh.

Dishes called alicha (አልጫ) are the opposite: mild stews without berbere, usually coloured yellow with turmeric. If you are nervous about spice, an alicha is a safe place to start.

Mitmita (ሚጥሚጣ)

Mitmita is berbere’s fiery cousin. It is a fine, orange-red powder made mainly from small, very hot chillies, with korerima, cloves and salt. Where berbere is cooked into a sauce, mitmita is usually used at the table or sprinkled on at the end.

Its most famous partner is kitfo, the minced beef dish, which is mixed with mitmita and spiced butter. Mitmita is also served in a small dish beside roasted meats, so each diner can add as much heat as they like. Use it carefully the first time.

Niter kibbeh (ንጥር ቅቤ)

Niter kibbeh is Ethiopian spiced clarified butter, and it gives many dishes their distinctive aroma. Butter is melted slowly with onion, garlic, ginger and spices such as fenugreek, cumin, korerima and koseret (ኮሰረት), a fragrant local herb. The milk solids are strained away, leaving a golden, fragrant butter that keeps well.

Niter kibbeh is used to finish wots, to cook kitfo, to flavour breakfast dishes such as chechebsa and genfo, and in many meat dishes. Because it is a dairy product, any dish made with it is not a fasting dish. On fasting days, cooks use vegetable oil instead, which is why fasting versions of familiar dishes taste a little lighter.

Awaze (አዋዜ)

Awaze is a paste made by mixing berbere with a liquid, such as water, oil, lemon juice or sometimes honey wine, often with garlic and ginger. It is served as a dip, especially with roasted or sautéed meat (tibs), and as a condiment for raw meat dishes. Think of it as Ethiopian chilli sauce, thick enough to cling to a piece of injera.

Other flavours to know

Choosing your heat level

Spice levels vary a lot between kitchens. A useful rule of thumb on a menu:

  1. Alicha dishes are mild.
  2. Wot dishes are medium to hot.
  3. Anything served with mitmita or awaze on the side lets you control the heat yourself.

When in doubt, ask the waiter. Most kitchens are happy to suggest a milder dish or serve the spice on the side. Ethiopian food is meant to be enjoyed, not endured.

Spices on a menu

Menus rarely list every spice, but a word or two helps guests decide. On Sudo Menu, venues can mark dishes as spicy and describe them in Amharic and English, so a guest can see at a glance that the key wot is hot and the kik alicha is gentle.

In short

Berbere gives Ethiopian food its colour and depth, mitmita its sharp heat and niter kibbeh its unforgettable aroma. Learn to recognise wot and alicha on a menu, treat mitmita with respect, and you will be able to choose exactly the level of spice you want.