Datta substitutes

Datta is a pounded raw relish, so making it is faster than shopping for a stand-in. Pulse or pound everything to a coarse, visibly chunky green paste and let it sit ten minutes.

Best for

kitfo and gored gored, beyaynetu plates, grilled meat, any time you want the real thing

The job datta does is to reset your palate between rich, buttery, berbere-heavy stews with a hit of fresh heat, acid and aromatic bite. Ginger and cardamom are what separate it from a generic green chili sauce, so do not skip them. Crush the cardamom seeds fresh from the pod; pre-ground cardamom tastes soapy in a raw sauce.

Zhoug is the closest ready-made product because, unusually among green chili sauces, most versions include cardamom alongside the chili, cilantro and garlic.

Best for

the best thing you can buy in a tub, Middle Eastern groceries and larger supermarkets, rich stews and grilled meat

It is much more cilantro-heavy than datta and considerably oilier, so it clings and coats where datta sits in a loose spoonful, and the cumin in most versions adds a savoury warmth datta does not have. Grate in a little fresh ginger per quarter cup and it lands very close.

The same idea from the neighbouring cuisine: a raw blended green chili sauce with garlic and citrus, served for exactly the same reason.

Best for

Somali and Ethiopian groceries, rice plates as well as kitfo, when you want something looser and sharper

Basbaas leans hard on cilantro and lime and is usually blended smooth, so it tastes brighter and more herbal and less gingery, and it lacks datta's cardamom warmth entirely. Grate in ginger and crush in a cardamom pod to steer it toward datta.

An uncooked salsa verde cruda shares the essential quality of being raw, green and acidic, which is more than most bottled sauces can claim.

Best for

ordinary supermarket availability, a milder relish for a mixed table, serving with stews rather than raw beef

Tomatillo brings a tart, vegetal sweetness, so the acidity tastes fruitier and rounder than datta's sharp lemon edge, and there is no ginger or cardamom in the picture at all. Most jarred versions are also considerably milder, so add a minced fresh chili if the heat needs to register.

The stripped-down version, and honestly a good one, because it does datta's core job with three ingredients and no equipment.

Best for

no blender, no shopping, small servings for one or two people, controlling heat person by person

You get the fresh heat and the acid and nothing else, so it is missing the aromatic layer of garlic, ginger and cardamom that gives datta its perfume. What it does keep is the important part: it cuts through richness and resets the palate. Chop rather than blend so it stays a relish.

A bottled green pepper sauce brings the heat and the colour, and it is what most fridges actually contain.

Best for

genuine emergencies, when no fresh chilies are available

These sauces are cooked, strained and vinegar-based, so they taste sharp, thin and processed against food that is asking for something raw and aromatic, and they are usually much hotter per spoonful. Use half the amount, and stir in chopped fresh garlic or a squeeze of lemon to give it any body at all. It fills the slot on the plate without ever reading as datta.