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Salads and fresh plates

Kitfo with ayib

Ethiopian minced raw beef in spiced butter, served with cooling fresh ayib cheese and greens.

Kitfo is a Gurage dish of finely minced lean beef warmed in niter kibbeh, spiced clarified butter, and seasoned with mitmita, a hot chilli blend. It is eaten raw, rare or cooked. It always comes with ayib, a fresh, crumbly, mild cheese, which cools the heat, and gomen, spiced greens, with injera or kocho bread.

What goes in

Ayib: 19%19%Lean beef: 33%33%Niter kibbeh: 10%10%Mitmita: 5%Gomen: 14%14%Kocho or injera: 19%19%6parts
  • Ayib419%, Fresh crumbly cheese.
  • Lean beef733%, Very finely minced.
  • Niter kibbeh210%, Spiced clarified butter.
  • Mitmita15%, Hot chilli blend.
  • Gomen314%, Spiced collard greens.
  • Kocho or injera419%, To eat with.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Simmer Make ayib by gently heating buttermilk until curds form, then drain them.
  2. Step 2: Layer Mince the beef very finely by hand.
  3. Step 3: Melt Warm the niter kibbeh and stir in mitmita.
  4. Step 4: Fry Toss the beef in the spiced butter, leaving it raw or warming it to taste.
  5. Step 5: Serve Serve with a mound of ayib, gomen and bread.
  6. Ayib: 19%19%Lean beef: 33%33%Niter kibbeh: 10%10%Mitmita: 5%Gomen: 14%14%Kocho or injera: 19%19%
    Finished Kitfo with ayib, by share.

Gurage feast food

Kitfo comes from the Gurage people of south-central Ethiopia and is eaten on special occasions, especially Meskel, the September festival of the Finding of the True Cross. In Addis Ababa, kitfo houses serve it every day. It is not eaten on the many fasting days of the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar, when meat and dairy are avoided.

Ayib

Ayib is a fresh cheese made at home from the buttermilk left after churning butter, heated gently until curds form, then drained. It is soft and crumbly, like cottage cheese or ricotta, and very mild. On the kitfo plate it is served in a mound beside the meat, sometimes mixed with gomen. It balances the heat of mitmita and the richness of the butter.

Where it is used

MeskelKitfo house mealCelebration

The cheeses in it

Cottage cheeseAyib is a fresh curd cheese of this kind.

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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