Emperor Menelik’s Pork

Rub the berbere in the meat, and place in an earthenware container. Pour the oil over, turn the meat and add the coffee and litchi juice. Marinate for one hour, remove meat and pat dry.

Heat enough peanut oil to barely cover the bottom of a frying pan and seal in the meat, one fillet at a time. Slice the meat on the slant into medallions and fry until cooked.

Transfer to presentation platter on which all the harissa vegetables were pre-arranged and heated through. (Harissa is an African spice mixture of chilli, garlic and oil)

Deglaze frying pan with the marinade and reduce to a bare 60ml. Spoon over the meat.

Berbere (spice mix)

Mix together 10ml each: cumin seed and coriander seed and dry roast over moderate heat until the perfume of the spices is prominent.

Reduce heat to very low and add 5ml each: ground ginger, ground cardamom, ground fenugreek, ground nutmeg, ground ground cinnamon, ground cloves. Dry roast for 5 minutes.

Add 1 jar (100ml) paprika, 3 jars (100ml each) of cayenne pepper and 25ml each of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Allow to cool and spoon into an airtight container. Keeps well for one year