Brundo Ethiopian Spice Company Matafecha | Authentic Ethiopian Flavor Enhancing Spice & All Natural East African Seasoning | Processed in and Imported from Ethiopia | All Natural | Organic | No preservatives (2.5oz)

nice spice

Used on chicken on multicultural day at school.

I love cooking Ethiopian food and I usually purchase locally made spice mixes from Ethiopian grocers in my area. But I just moved to a part of the U.S. that has no Ethiopian groceries! The nearest one is 2 hours away.So I took a chance on Brundo's spice mixes and was not disappointed! Every one I purchased (there were 5) smelled and tasted fresh. To be fair, I have no idea how matafecha is typically used, so I added it to the siga wat I made to give it some more depth. YUM!I made an Ethiopian dinner for New Year's Day (siga wat, kik alicha, and gomen) and it was delicious. Now if only I could find injera...sigh.

I am interested in cooking Ethiopian food, this spice was my first purchase. I was delighted with the flavor it added to my dish.

for all your curry dishes or Ethiopian curry dish this is the one spice blend you need to add to complete your (Alicha Wat) right about the end. Thank you for making it authentic.

This spice mix contains several things that I was unfamiliar with. It contains shai kimem, which is a mix of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. It also contains kundo berbere, which is an Ethiopian black pepper, korerima, which is also known as grains of paradise, comes from the seed pods of a plant in the ginger family related to cardamom, and abish, which is fenugreek.It’s difficult to describe what something tastes like, but if you imagine something kind of related to heavily peppered (and thus somewhat spicy) gingerbread, that might give you an idea. It’s interesting, but I’m not really sure what I want to use this with because it reads to me as something that would go with sweet things except for the pepper. This would probably go great with something that is mostly savory but maybe has a little bit of sweetness to it.The one thing I don’t like is the jar. It’s not pour friendly because there is no shaker top. You remove the lid and it’s a completely open jar. You’ll probably want a small scoop for this.

This is a tasty enough Ethiopian spice blend, but its ingredient listings pose a labeling and allergy concern. The blend is pleasantly curry-like, peppery and flavorful, and preparing it in a curry-like manner (with the spice in the pan before the ingredients) will result in a delicious stew. But some consumers may have allergy or taste concerns, and the ingredients are (a) not listed on the product listing, (b) given incorrectly by the seller in Amazon Q&A, and (c) listed on the jar with some named only in Amharic, not English. (This may not be legal for sale in the US but it's certainly not a great idea even if it is.)I believe the ingredients in English are: cinnnamon, cloves, cardamom, black pepper, Ethiopian cardamom, and fenugreek. The last is a particular concern for those with severe food allergies (often cross-reactive with peanut) so it's a particularly bad choice to leave unlisted in both the online listing and the Q&A answers.

I had a hard time finding seasonings to make Ethiopian food. Thankful to find a seller here who had everything I needed!