This is a cool little subscription box that I have a few people interested in even before I posted this review, because I loved the concept and had to talk about it. RawSpiceBar is an affordable gift idea for the foodie or cook. The idea is simple but for someone like me who is always looking for new dinner ideas, this subscription box is the key to the “what’s for dinner” question, at least for a day or two. My family and I aren’t afraid to try something different when it comes to food.
Each box is themed with a different region or country. The one I received featured Ethiopian spices and recipes. As far as I know, I’ve never tried Ethiopian dishes or spices before. I received 3 recipes to use my spices with: A main dish recipe, a side dish recipe, and a dessert recipe. And three spices: Ethiopian Mitmita, Berbere, and Pumpkin Pie Spice.
Here is a little about RawSpiceBar spices:
- Freshly ground: Our spices are whole toasted, ground and blended just a few days before we ship directly to your door so you can have your spices the way you have your coffee (fresh!).
- Perfectly sized: Each of our spice blends are perfectly portioned to create a dish serving 8-12. Our recipes are kitchen tested and loved- and almost always will include an option for vegans, carnivores and vegetarians.
- Spice discovery: Our blends are from old family recipes or our curated chefs- so you can explore new spice blends from experts all year long.
I love that each of the spice packets have a description of the spice itself and what actually is used in the packet. There’s no crazy scientific or chemical sounding words. Just simple stuff like “sweet paprika” and “star anise” to highlight just a couple.
The dessert recipe called Pumpkin Spice Dabo Kolo (Ethiopian Pumpkin Spice Ricotta Donuts) sounded really interesting to me. I already had all the ingredients at home. The Main dish recipe Key Wat (Spicy Ethiopian Stewed Beef) sounded absolutely delish and I couldn’t wait to try that as well. Especially because someone actually helped me out with a dinner idea. If I ask the kids or my husband it’s “whatever you feel like making”. Gah!
I made the Key Wat for supper. The spices were fragrant. I could tell though that this was gonna be a spicy dish. The spices tingled my nose while I was cooking.
It smelled so good. The recipe recommends serving it with something like injera, couscous, or butternut squash. I had couscous in my cupboard so that’s what we went with.
I took a few bites and it was very flavorful. Then the spice crept up on me. My kids like spicy things (except my 2 year old). They all ate it (with a big glass of cold milk handy). It sort of reminded be of a General Tso’s beef with 3 stars. I know my husband is going to love it, this is right up his alley.
So after all the spice I decided to try out the Pumpkin Spice Dabo Kolo. As I was mixing things up I realized there was a bit of a discrepancy in the recipe for this one. The first step tells you to mix up several of the ingredients including butter. Unfortunately, butter is never mentioned in the ingredients. So I went online to the site and found the recipe where the butter was listed as an ingredient. Then MY ingredient list had 2 tsp of baking powder but never said what to do with it. So I checked the site and baking powder isn’t listed at all. So I added it anyway. They seemed to turn out alright lol.
They aren’t sweet at all. But they suggest using honey as a dip which really made the difference. The idea kind of reminded me of sopapillas. The kids seemed to like them.
We broadened our palates today. I probably would have never tried these dishes without rawspicebar. For only $6 a month, this is the perfect way to to add some adventure to your dinner routine and try some new spices. You can start your subscription at rawspicebar.com.
You can find RawSpiceBar here too:
Twitter: @rawspicebar
Pinterest: pinterest.com/rawspicebarLA
I received the mentioned product in order to complete an honest review. Any opinions expressed are my own.
