Berbere recipe

I was poking around yesterday trying to find my berbere recipe.  I only made it once and it takes a long time to go through a cup of it.  I can't find the exact one, but this one looks pretty similar to what I used.  This one is freely available on Epicurious and comes from Marcus Samuelson, the Swedish-Ethiopian chef. 

• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 cup ground dried Serrano chilies or other ground dried chilies
• 1/2 cup paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, preferably freshly ground
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Grind up the fenugreek seeds and anything else that needs to be ground up in a coffee mill (the one you reserve for grinding spices and not actual coffee) and blend everything together.

I buy my spices whole, so pretty much everything needs to be ground.  Whole spices have a much longer shelf life than ground.  Store spices in glass jars at room temperature.

I used cayenne pepper that is widely available and available in bulk from Indian groceries.

Comparing with my store bought berbere, mine was definitely fresher and richer in aroma.  The commercial powder had some smokiness that mine didn't have.  I suspect either that they toast the chili before adding it or use an additional flavoring chili, like a New Mexico.  Next time I make it, I might blend in a little of this, as I have dried Mexican chilies coming out of the wazoo.

Reference to the recipe below:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Berbere-354610