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Eritrea / Horn of Africa

Eritrean Zebhi Hamli

Side / Fasting Dish · 45 min · 4 to 6 servings

A large volume of spinach cooks down into a silky, savory Eritrean side whose success depends on softened onion, concentrated tomato and greens that are tender without becoming watery.

Fresh spinach leaves, the defining green in this Eritrean zebhi hamli adaptation
Fringe Table adaptation

About this dish

In Bibi's Kitchen, Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen document Ma Gehennet's Eritrean stewed spinach as Zebhi Hamli. Public recipe adaptations inspired by that dish use onion, garlic, tomato paste, leafy greens and a small amount of water, producing greens that are silky rather than dry or soupy. This Fringe Table version stays with spinach to match the documented Eritrean dish name while using an accessible home-kitchen method.

Story & history

Why this dish matters

Hassan's James Beard Award-winning In Bibi's Kitchen gathers recipes and oral histories from grandmothers across eight eastern African countries, including Eritrea. The book's Eritrea chapter lists Zebhi Hamli alongside kicha, shiro, firfir, berbere and doro wat, situating the greens as part of a larger table rather than an isolated side dish. Mild greens are especially useful beside richer or chile-forward foods because an Eritrean meal builds balance across multiple dishes on injera.

Hamli can refer broadly to cooked greens, and Eritrean households use different leaves, aromatics and degrees of tomato. This version follows the publicly documented stewed-spinach framing; sturdy chard or collards can substitute when spinach is unavailable, but they need longer cooking and produce a firmer texture.

Before you begin

Preparation notes

Wash spinach thoroughly

Grit hides where leaves meet stems. Spin or drain the greens well so excess wash water does not dilute the finished stew.

Concentrate the tomato paste

Cook it until it darkens from bright red toward brick red and smells sweet-savory rather than metallic.

Cook to silky, not dry

The greens should be completely tender and glossy with a little concentrated moisture clinging to them, not floating in broth or fried crisp.

Cook it

Ingredients & detailed method

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium red onion, finely diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 lb mature spinach, washed, well drained and roughly chopped
  • 2/3 cup water, plus more only if needed
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 small jalapeño or other fresh green chile, thinly sliced, optional

Method

  1. 1.Heat the olive oil in a wide heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 7 to 9 minutes, stirring often, until fully softened and translucent with a few pale-gold edges but no hard browning.
  2. 2.Add the garlic and cook about 45 seconds, just until fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste and cook 3 to 4 minutes, pressing and stirring until it darkens to brick red and the raw canned-tomato smell becomes sweet and concentrated.
  3. 3.Add the spinach in large handfuls, folding each addition until it wilts enough to make room for the next. Sprinkle in the salt and add the water.
  4. 4.Cover, reduce to medium-low and cook 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. The greens will release additional liquid as they collapse.
  5. 5.Uncover and continue simmering 8 to 12 minutes. Checkpoint: the spinach should be dark green, completely tender and silky with no raw squeak or fibrous bite, while the tomato-onion base should cling to the leaves rather than pool at the bottom.
  6. 6.If the pot looks watery, simmer uncovered a few minutes longer; if the greens begin to stick before tender, add water 2 tablespoons at a time. The finished aroma should be savory and onion-sweet, not scorched or sharply garlicky.
  7. 7.Fold in the sliced chile during the final minute if using, taste for salt and serve warm with injera and other Eritrean dishes such as shiro.
Sources & context

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