The Siberian American: Cooking with Spice and Everything Nice: November RawSpiceBar Subscription

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Cooking with Spice and Everything Nice: November RawSpiceBar Subscription

This post is sponsored by RawSpiceBar, but all opinions are my own.

I love cooking, but I have a hard time picking what to make. My husband isn’t picky, and Pinterest just makes it harder to decide. Enter RawSpiceBar, a game-changer subscription service that sends 3-4 freshly ground spices from one country or region, complete with three recipes to try.


My box featured three spices from Ethiopia: Berbere, Ethiopian Mitmita, and Pumpkin Pie Spice. Each spice comes with a description and usage suggestions. The packets are .4 oz., enough to create three dishes for 4-6 people.

Berbere:
This is arguably the most famous spice blend of Ethiopian cuisine with a smoky and spicy flavor. It contains dried chiles, sweet paprika, coriander, ginger, cardamom, fenugreek, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and black peppercorns.

Ethiopian Mitmita:
This spice is described as crazy hot and as a great replacement for hot sauce. It contains African birds eye chili peppers, dried red chiles, cardamom, black peppercorns, and garlic.

Pumpkin Pie Spice: 
This spice is different from traditional pumpkin spice blends, featuring cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, mace, star anise, and spices.


The recipes featured this month were Key Wat (spicy Ethiopian stewed beef), Berbere roasted carrots, fennel, and mint, and pumpkin spice Dabo Kolo (Ethiopian pumpkin spice ricotta doughnuts).


Honestly, when I found out the November RawSpiceBar spices were Ethiopian, I was nervous. I love trying spices and food from around the world, but spicy food and I don’t mix. I tried a tiny bit of the Berbere and Ethiopian Mitmita and instantly knew I wouldn’t be able to handle even a little of the spice in a dish. That being said, I loved the pumpkin pie spice in my coffee (and I usually don’t like pumpkin flavor) and can’t wait to try making the ricotta doughnuts.


The verdict:
At only $6 a month, RawSpiceBar is a great way for me to broaden my cooking horizons. Each spice blend is unique and gives me the opportunity to experiment in the kitchen at a low cost. Even though I couldn’t handle the spiciness of two of the Ethiopian spices, I looked through previous months and know I would have loved the Memphis, Baltimore, Japanese, and Jamaican spices. I love that their blog features additional recipe suggestions each month. This would be a great Christmas gift for foodie friends who want to try new flavors in the kitchen.