As part of our planned Ethiopian dinner excursion, we are hoping to make up Tikil Gomen. It’s a nice dish made from carrots, cabbage, and potatoes. And, like every Ethiopian dish we’ve had, it is traditionally eaten with your fingers and pieces of injera. We found a recipe online, which we’ve modified slightly to suit our tastes. Try it and see if you like it.
A quick note: The photos are from the first time we made this, but since then we’ve reduced the amount of cabbage to make a better dish. The ingredient list reflects the new, better amounts.
Tikil-Gomen
Ingredients
- 1/3 head cabbage shredded
- 6 medium potatoes peeled and cubed
- 4 carrots cut into sticks about 2 inches long
- 1/2 onion thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
Instructions
- In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add onions and carrots and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Put in the cabbage and the spices and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender, or about 20 minutes.
- Add potatoes. Once the potatoes are added, cover the pan and cook on low, stirring occasionally, until they are tender, or about 30 minutes. Add water, if necessary.
Ingredient discussion:
You should consider purchasing cumin and turmeric at a local ethnic market. It’ll probably be a lot cheaper. For the produce, fresher is better. Ideally, you should have about equal amounts of cabbage and potatoes.
Procedure in detail:
Heat olive oil. In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat until it shimmers.
Add onions and carrots. The onions and carrot should sizzle when they hit the oil. If not, don’t worry, it’s all good. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add cabbage and spices. Put in the cabbage and the spices and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender, or about 20 minutes.
Add potatoes. Once the potatoes are added, cover the pan and cook on low, stirring occasionally, until they are tender, or about 30 minutes. Watch the liquid level while cooking; you might have to add a bit of water from time to time.
Done. Serve with injera or other flatbread for eating
When we first made this recipe, we used more cabbage than is listed in the ingredients list. After making it, we think you should have about the same amount of cabbage as potatoes so we’ve made that change. Making it a second time, it tastes pretty much like you’d find at an Ethiopian restaurant. Five stars.