Buticha
ቡጥጫ·(boo-tee-cha)
Ye'Tsom Weeknights: 30-Minute Vegan Dinners
Forget the internet blogs telling you to toss canned garbanzos and mustard into a food processor—that's just hummus with a Hollywood makeover. Real Buticha is a completely different animal. It's a dense chickpea porridge, cooked out and chilled firm, then crumbled to mimic scrambled eggs before being aggressively tossed with raw, biting aromatics and a hard hit of lemon. To get this authentic fasting-day staple onto a weeknight table without waiting an hour for the paste to set, we rely on a dead-simple trick of culinary physics. By spreading the hot base thinly across a sheet pan and flash-chilling it in the freezer, you get the uncompromised taste of home from stove to plate in under thirty minutes.
Before you start
Line a standard baking sheet with parchment paper.
Clear enough space in your freezer to accommodate the pan, as this is essential for the 10-minute flash-chill.
Ingredients
- chickpea flour1 cup
- cool water2 cup
- salt1/2 tsp
- ground turmeric1/2 tsp
- neutral oil1 tbsp
- red onion1/2 med
- jalapeño1 med
- garlic3 med clove
- extra virgin olive oil3 tbsp
- fresh lemon juice3 tbsp
Method
- 01
Whisk the chickpea flour, cool water, salt, and turmeric together in a medium non-stick saucepan off the heat.
Using cool water instead of hot prevents the flour from instantly clumping. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is completely smooth and lump-free.
- 02
Place the saucepan over medium heat, add the neutral oil, and stir constantly with a silicone spatula.
The liquid will suddenly seize into a dense, glossy paste. Reduce the heat to medium-low and keep stirring for 5 to 7 minutes to cook out the raw, metallic taste of the flour, stopping only when the mass pulls away cleanly from the sides of the pan.
- 03
Immediately dump the hot paste onto the prepared sheet pan and spread it into an even 1/4-inch layer.
Place the pan directly into the freezer for about 10 minutes, or until the paste is completely cold and firm to the touch.
- 04
In a medium bowl, combine the diced red onion, jalapeño, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice.
Stirring these together now allows the acid in the lemon juice to slightly tame the raw bite of the onion and garlic while the chickpea base chills.
- 05
Transfer the chilled chickpea slab to a cutting board and aggressively mash it with a fork until it breaks apart into tiny, distinct curds.
You want a texture resembling scrambled eggs or large couscous. Fold the crumbles into the onion dressing until thoroughly coated, and serve immediately with fresh injera.
Notes
Do not substitute whole canned chickpeas under any circumstances.
The structural integrity of this dish relies on the active starches in raw chickpea flour gelatinizing and setting into a firm block. Blending canned garbanzos will just yield standard hummus.