By the Mekazon Kitchen

እንኳን አደረሳችሁ! Enkutatash, the Ethiopian New Year, falls on Friday 11 September 2026, when the calendar turns to 2019. For Ethiopian and Eritrean families in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah it is the biggest cooking day of the year. This guide covers what the day means, what goes on the table, and how to get every ingredient for Ethiopian New Year in Dubai delivered before the pots go on.

What Enkutatash means

The Ethiopian calendar has thirteen months: twelve of thirty days and a short thirteenth month, Pagume, that closes the year. New Year's Day is Meskerem 1, which lands on 11 September in most years, and the Ethiopian year runs seven to eight years behind the Gregorian one, which is why 2026 becomes 2019 (Ethiopian calendar, Wikipedia).

The name itself means "gift of jewels". By tradition it recalls the Queen of Sheba returning from her visit to King Solomon and being welcomed home with jewels (Enkutatash, Wikipedia). It is also the end of the long rains back home, when the highlands turn yellow with adey abeba, the Meskel daisy. Children go door to door with bunches of the flowers and a painted card, singing "Abebayehosh", and come away with a coin or a handful of dabo kolo.

What is on the Enkutatash table

Everyday Ethiopian food is built around shiro and lentils. Enkutatash is the opposite: it is the day the family cooks the dishes it saves for a feast.

Doro wot, the New Year dish

Slow-cooked chicken in a deep red onion and berbere sauce, one boiled egg per person, served on injera. It takes a morning and a lot of onions, and no other dish says "holiday" the same way. Two things decide it: a good Ethiopian berbere and real niter kibbeh, the spiced clarified butter. If you do not have time to make kibbeh from scratch, Sheno ghee warmed with a pinch of koseret gets you most of the way there. A spoon of mekelesha stirred in at the very end is the finishing touch our customers ask for by name.

Injera, made ahead

Start the batter three days before. One kilo of red teff flour makes roughly ten to twelve injera, enough for a family lunch with leftovers for the next day's firfir. Two small new arrivals on our shelf make the batter behave the way it does at home: abesh (fenugreek) for the classic sour note and gomen zer for the flavour many families swear by. Our full injera how-to walks through the fermentation step by step. Browse everything in Ethiopia · Flour & Grains.

The snacks and the heat

No Ethiopian New Year in Dubai is complete without a bowl of dabo kolo on the table for whoever drops in, and a little dish of mitmita for the ones who like their doro wot hotter than everyone else.

The coffee ceremony that closes the day

After lunch the incense goes on, the green beans are roasted in a pan and carried round the room, and three rounds of coffee are poured from the jebena: abol, tona and baraka. It is the part of Enkutatash that most families in the UAE miss the most, and the part that is easiest to bring back. A proper clay jebena and a set of sini coffee cups last for years, and our roasting beans are in the Coffee & Tea collection. If you already own the pot, this is the year to teach the children to pour.

Celebrating Ethiopian New Year in Dubai

This year Enkutatash is a Friday, so many families here cook the big meal that evening or hold it over to Saturday when everyone is off work. Among our customers from Deira to Abu Dhabi the pattern is the same: church or a video call home in the morning, doro wot at lunch, coffee in the afternoon, and a phone full of "Melkam Addis Amet" messages by evening. Adey abeba does not grow in the Gulf, so a bunch of yellow chrysanthemums from the flower shop stands in for it on the table.

The shopping cannot be improvised. Berbere, teff, koseret and kolo are not on a Carrefour shelf, and the week before New Year is when everyone in the community is looking for them at once.

Get the whole table in one delivery

We built the Enkutatash Basket around exactly this menu: berbere 500g, Sheno ghee, koseret, white teff flour, coffee beans, etan for the ceremony, mekelesha and dabo kolo, for AED 249 against AED 287.96 bought separately. Only a handful are made up, so it is first come, first served.

Prefer to build your own? Every item above, plus the 250g and 1kg sizes, the jebena and the cups, is in our Enkutatash collection. Enter the code ENKUTATASH at checkout for free delivery on orders of AED 200 or more, valid until 30 September, and the same window covers Meskel later in the month. To be safe, order by Wednesday 9 September so it arrives before you start cooking. The rest of the Ethiopian & Eritrean collection is there for anything we have missed.

FAQ

When is Ethiopian New Year in 2026?

Friday 11 September 2026, which is Meskerem 1, 2019 in the Ethiopian calendar. It moves to 12 September only in the year before a Gregorian leap year.

What do you say on Enkutatash?

"Enkuan aderesachihu" (glad you reached the new year) and "Melkam Addis Amet" (happy new year). Either one will earn you a smile from any Ethiopian or Eritrean neighbour in Dubai.

Can I get Ethiopian New Year ingredients delivered in the UAE?

Yes. Mekazon delivers berbere, teff, koseret, coffee, kolo and the Enkutatash Basket across the UAE, with next-day delivery available. Use code ENKUTATASH for free delivery over AED 200 until 30 September.

መልካም አዲስ ዓመት, Melkam Addis Amet, from all of us at the Mekazon Kitchen. Shop the Enkutatash collection.