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Kulet substitute

Best substitute

Quick homemade kulet

Makes about 2 cups: 2 large onions, ¼ cup oil or niter kibbeh, 3 tbsp berbere, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 3 garlic cloves, 1 tsp grated ginger, water to loosen

Best for tsebhi derho, tsebhi birsen and zigni

Close match

The genuine answer, and it is one pan and about half an hour. Chop the onion very fine, sweat it dry in a covered pan until it collapses to a jam, then add the fat, then the berbere, then the tomato and aromatics.

Other kulet substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Kulet with ratios

  1. 2Single-dish shortcut base

    Close match

    Per 4 servings: 1 chopped onion, 3 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp berbere, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 2 garlic cloves, ½ tsp grated ginger

    Rather than making a batch of kulet and then a stew, build the base directly in the pot you are cooking in, scaled to one meal.

    What changes
    Best for
    cooking one stew tonight, avoiding leftovers, beginners following a recipe that says add the kulet

    The result is a little less deep than a proper batch of kulet, because a smaller quantity of onion in a wider pan browns rather than melting, and browning gives a different, sharper sweetness than slow collapsing does. Keep the heat low, cover the pan for the first ten minutes, and resist stirring constantly.

  2. 3Indian onion-tomato cooking base (bhuna masala) with cayenne and fenugreek

    Different taste

    Use the same amount against finished kulet, plus 1 tbsp cayenne or Kashmiri chili, ½ tsp ground fenugreek and ¼ tsp ground cardamom per cup

    Structurally this is the closest thing you can buy: cooked-down onion and tomato in fat, which is exactly what kulet is underneath the spices.

    What changes
    Best for
    the best shop-bought option, Indian and Pakistani groceries, weeknights when the onion stage is not happening

    The structure is right and the spicing is wrong. These bases are cumin and coriander led, so without adjustment the stew tastes South Asian rather than Habesha. Berbere's signature is chili heat plus fenugreek, cardamom and ginger, so those three additions do most of the correcting. Simmer the doctored base for five minutes before adding anything else so the raw spice cooks out.

  3. 4Harissa with caramelised onion

    Different taste

    Use 1 cup caramelised onion + 3 tbsp harissa, plus ½ tsp ground fenugreek and a pinch of cardamom for every tablespoon of harissa

    Harissa is the most available chili paste that is genuinely built for stewing, and combined with cooked-down onion it gets you a functional red base.

    What changes
    Best for
    supermarket availability, when you have no berbere at all, vegetable stews

    Harissa is coriander, cumin and caraway forward and much simpler than berbere, which carries fenugreek, cardamom, ginger and often korarima behind its chili. It is also usually vinegared, so the stew comes out noticeably more sour as well as tasting North African rather than Eritrean. The fenugreek and cardamom additions matter more here than anywhere else on this list.

  4. 5Mild white kulet (the alicha version)

    Different taste

    2 onions melted down, ¼ cup oil, 1 tbsp turmeric, 3 garlic cloves, 1 tsp grated ginger, no berbere

    Not every kulet is red.

    What changes

    The mild version swaps berbere for turmeric and is the base for the alicha family of gentle stews.

    Best for
    cooking for children or anyone avoiding chili, alicha stews, balancing a plate that already has fiery dishes on it

    This is a legitimate alternative rather than a compromise, but be clear that it is a different dish: turmeric gives colour and a warm earthiness with no heat at all, so a stew built on it is mild, yellow and rounder. Do not use it and expect tsebhi; use it and call it alicha.

  5. 6Reduced marinara or sofrito with cayenne and fenugreek (least-bad option)

    Taste and texture differ

    1 cup sauce reduced by a third, plus 1 tbsp cayenne, ½ tsp ground fenugreek, ¼ tsp cardamom and 2 tbsp oil

    The bottom of the list, offered honestly because it is what most kitchens have and it will get dinner on the table.

    What changes
    Best for
    absolute emergencies, when the only jars in the cupboard are Italian

    Jarred tomato sauce is much sweeter and far more tomato-dominant than kulet, and it has none of the onion-jam body that gives a tsebhi its weight, so the result tastes like a spicy tomato stew rather than a Habesha one. Reduce it hard first to concentrate it, add real oil, and cook a chopped onion into it if you can spare fifteen minutes; that one step lifts it out of last place.

What is Kulet?

Kulet is Kulet is the Eritrean and Tigrayan sauce base that every tsebhi stew is built on, made by melting down a large quantity of finely chopped onion, then blooming berbere in oil or spiced butter with tomato, garlic and ginger.

Cooking tips

  • Cook the onions first and cook them dry. Eritrean and Ethiopian cooks sweat finely chopped onion in a dry covered pan until it collapses and gives up its water, and only then add the fat. Putting oil in at the start fries the onion instead of melting it, and you never get the jammy body that makes kulet taste like kulet.
  • Bloom the berbere in the fat for a minute or two before any liquid goes in. Berbere added to water stays raw and dusty, and a stew made that way tastes gritty and harsh no matter how long you simmer it afterwards.
  • Chop the onion much finer than feels necessary. The onion is not a garnish here, it is the thickener and the sweetness, and it has to disappear completely into the sauce, which coarse dice will not do in any reasonable time.
  • Salt at the end. Kulet reduces a long way and it also gets diluted again when the stew liquid goes in, so salting early leaves you with something that tastes correct in the pan and oversalted on the plate.
  • If your finished sauce tastes harsh or thin, it needs more time, not more spice. Adding another spoon of berbere to an under-cooked kulet makes it hotter and dustier; another twenty minutes on low heat makes it sweeter and deeper.
  • Make double and freeze it in half-cup portions. This is how a tsebhi becomes a weeknight dish rather than a Sunday project, and kulet freezes with no loss of quality at all.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the kulet out?

No, and this is one of the rare cases where the honest answer is a flat no. Kulet is not a condiment or a garnish, it is the sauce, so a tsebhi without it is meat or lentils boiled in water. If a recipe says to add the kulet and you have none, the fix is not to skip it but to make the fastest possible version: cook an onion down in a covered pan, add oil, add whatever chili and tomato you have, and press on.

What exactly is kulet?

It is a prepared sauce base, made ahead in a batch and kept in the fridge or freezer, consisting of a large quantity of onion cooked down to a jam, fat, berbere, tomato, garlic and ginger. Eritrean and Tigrayan recipes often assume you already have some, which is why the word appears in ingredient lists with no explanation. Understanding it as the first half of the recipe already done is the key to reading those recipes.

Is kulet the same as berbere?

No. Berbere is the dry spice blend, sold in a bag or jar. Kulet is the wet cooked base that berbere goes into, along with onion, tomato, fat and aromatics. Substituting berbere for kulet is like substituting curry powder for a finished curry sauce.

Can I buy kulet ready-made?

Not usually. Some Eritrean and Ethiopian groceries sell frozen or jarred stew bases, and it is worth asking, but there is no mainstream equivalent on a supermarket shelf. The nearest commercial product is an Indian onion-tomato cooking base, which has the right structure and the wrong spices, and can be corrected with cayenne, fenugreek and cardamom.

How much kulet do I need per serving?

As a rough guide, about half a cup of finished kulet per two servings of stew, loosened with water or stock as the stew cooks. Recipes vary a lot, and kulet is a base rather than a measured seasoning, so use the colour and thickness of the pot as your guide: it should look like a thick, glossy red sauce coating the meat or lentils, not a thin soup.

Can I make kulet without berbere?

Yes. The mild version, made with turmeric instead of berbere, is a standard part of the repertoire and is the base for alicha stews. It is genuinely different rather than a lesser version: gentle, yellow and warmly earthy instead of hot and deep red. Use it when you are cooking for people who do not want chili heat.

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