Ethiopian-Style Sautéed Beef, Onion and Chilies

This quick sauté is based on an Ethiopian dish called zilzil tibs, in which strips of meat (zilzil) are fried (tibs) with onion and peppers. Before cooking, we season the slices of beef generously with berbere, the best-known Ethiopian spice blend, along with garlic, rosemary and a couple additional spices. Look for berbere, a rust-red mix because of its dried-chili base, in well-stocked supermarkets and spice shops. At the end of cooking, we add a splash of white wine—a nod to tej, or honey wine, that’s sometimes used in Ethiopian cooking—to blend with the meat’s juices and make a light, simple sauce. If you can find it, injera, a moist, spongy, slightly sour Ethiopian flatbread, is the ideal accompaniment, but rice, naan or lavash would be good, too.