BETHLEHEM: Oh, we're making our signature dish, Awaze Tibs panini sandwich.

So Tibs is a very popular dish in Ethiopia.

It's made from beef or lamb, onion, but we add awaze to it to make it more special.

Awaze is a paste made out of berbere, which is a very staple spice.

So in Ethiopia, awaze tibs, it's usually eaten with injera, but we decided to make it a sandwich here.

SETH: That sounds perfect for a cafe.

And how do you get started on this dish?

BETHLEHEM: So we first start with the ayib, which is an Ethiopian cheese.

Whenever you use a lot of berbere and spice, we pair it with a homemade cheese.

SETH: All right, I have a little bit of a PTSD from making cheese in-house.

Let's go scalding this time.

Oh, God.

That is no joke.

(painful groan) BETHLEHEM: I'm really sorry to hear that, but no hands today.

SETH: All right, that's a relief.

BETHLEHEM: So we'll heat the milk.

We don't boil it, just enough for it to come up hot enough.

SETH: So this is just milk in this pan right here?

BETHLEHEM: This is just milk.

We start, we're going to put some vinegar into our measuring cup, and then you put the milk in the vinegar.

Made a mess.

SETH: That's okay, we can make a mess on "Signature Dish."

BETHLEHEM: Yeah.

So now, it's just going to sit here for two or three minutes until the curd and the whey starts separating.

All right, Seth, it's been a couple of minutes.

You can already see it separating.

SETH: Oh, yeah.

BETHLEHEM: So at this point, I'm going to strain it.

So you can see the whey is really nice and yellow and clear at the bottom.

I use it for something very, very special, and I'll show you later.

SETH: All right, got a little surprise in store today?

BETHLEHEM: Yes, yes.

There is no waste here.

So to make the awaze, we need berbere.

And berbere is made out of minimum 16 ingredients.

And it has black seed, ginger, turmeric, onion, garlic.

I call it a multivitamin because our dishes are centuries old and it comes from, you know, mother, daughter, mother, daughter.

So this is our medicine.

So now, I'm going to make this into a paste.

And I'll put lemon juice, I'll put honey.

SETH: A little sweetness to counteract the spice?

BETHLEHEM: Yeah, to balance, and a little salt.

And then I just thin it out with water.

SETH: And this paste has such a great deep red color too.

BETHLEHEM: Yeah.

So now, we're going to go ahead and make our tibs.

SETH: Some cooking happening, love it.

BETHLEHEM: Yes.

So I'm going to get this pan really hot so that we can get a nice sizzle.

This is seasoned with salt and pepper, onion, and a little oil.

So here we go.

We don't want to overcook it, we just want to make sure that it's nicely seared.

At this point, I'm going to go ahead and add awaze.

(sizzle) SETH: Oh.

And it smelled great when you were mixing it.

BETHLEHEM: Yeah.

And that's it.

SETH: Smells even better when it hits the pan.

BETHLEHEM: Yeah.

And then to finish it, I'll add a little clarified butter.

So this is called kibbeh, and we clarify it and we season it with herb called koseret and corrorima, which is an Ethiopian cardamom.

SETH: All right, I've never heard of flavored clarified butter before.

BETHLEHEM: Yeah.

So that's it.

Our awaze tibs is done.

To make the sandwich, I'll get a ciabatta bread.

I'll layer ayib, which is the Ethiopian cheese we made earlier, and then I will put the awaze tibs on top.

And then we put it on the panini press so that it gets crispy on top, and then juicy in the middle.

And then we plate it with a small side salad with a homemade vinaigrette, and then our awaze tibs panini is ready to enjoy.

SETH: All right, chef.

Can't wait to give it a try.

Let's dig in.

BETHLEHEM: Let's go.

(crunch) SETH: Wow.

That is just crazy good.

BETHLEHEM: Mmm-hmm, thank you.

SETH: That awaze paste gives you that warm, comforting heat, but round it out with some smokiness, some earthy flavors.

BETHLEHEM: Absolutely.

But we chose a ciabatta bread because that will soak in all the juice, and then you can crunch it.

I think it's just the perfect marriage, ciabatta and awaze.

SETH: Almost a little bit intoxicating.

I want to go right back in for another bite.

BETHLEHEM: Let's do it.

(crunch) SETH: And the cheese works so well.

You do pick up a little bit of tang, maybe it's from the lemon juice, that goes really nicely with those warm, smoky and spicy flavors.

BETHLEHEM: Mmm-hmm, but not too spicy.

It's just flavor.

Spicy is a relative word for some people, but I think it's a good balance.

SETH: It's like a warm hug.

BETHLEHEM: Yeah, it's a warm hug, exactly.