Our version of this classic Ethiopian stew starts with Berbere spice, one of the main components of Ethiopian cuisine. First you make a paste with the spice and red wine, then you make a simmer sauce and then the stew itself.You can make the paste or even the sauce ahead of time. What's more, you can make extra paste or sauce and use it as a building block in your cooking. It's tasty when added to lentils, as a spicy twist on pasta sauce, as a simmer sauce for chicken, or as an addition to braised greens.The Berbere blend is spicy and aromatic -- a mix of chiles and spices. Warming, "sweet" spice notes from ginger, cinnamon, fenugreek and clove combine with herbaceous qualities of besobela (sacred basil), rosemary and thyme.Serve this stew with injera (Ethiopian bread) if you can find it.
