🇪🇷 Eritrean Cuisine

Tesmi

Eritrean Spiced Clarified Butter

Prep Time 30 min
Servings 16
Difficulty Easy

Clarified butter infused with garlic, ginger, fenugreek, cardamom, and basil, the essential cooking fat of Eritrean cuisine.

Ingredients

  • 500g unsalted butter
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced
  • 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 4 cardamom pods, cracked
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 small cinnamon stick

Instructions

  1. 1 Cut butter into chunks and melt slowly over low heat in a heavy pot without stirring.
  2. 2 Once melted, add garlic, ginger, fenugreek, cardamom, basil, turmeric, and cinnamon.
  3. 3 Simmer on lowest heat for twenty minutes, never letting it boil, as milk solids sink and foam rises.
  4. 4 Skim any foam from the surface and continue simmering until the butter is clear and golden.
  5. 5 Strain through cheesecloth into a clean glass jar, discarding the solids and spices.
  6. 6 Store at room temperature for up to two weeks or refrigerate for several months.

Did You Know?

A household's tesmi recipe is closely guarded, and the aroma of tesmi being made signals a celebration is coming.

From The Culinary Codex — http://theculinarycodex.com/dish/eritrean/tesmi/