Tsiona foods featured in Bethesda magazine

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Tsion Bellete’s stew kits need just water, oil and 20 minutes of simmer time.

In a Stew

Tsiona Bellete, a Gaithersburg resident who opened Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant in Rockville in 2012, has created a line of products so you can experience some of her tasty cooking at home. Three stew kits (red lentil, brown lentil and split pea) are available in mild and spicy versions—the first seasoned with turmeric, carom seed, ginger, garlic and dried minced onion; the second with Ethiopian berbere spice mix (ground red chili peppers, allspice, cardamom, rue seed, fenugreek, black pepper, cumin, rosemary and nutmeg). Add water and oil to the legumes and spice packets, simmer for 20 minutes or so and serve. Bellete also hopes to launch a line of already prepared stews this fall in local grocery stores.

Better than the stews, though, are the chips Bellete fashions out of injera, the addictive, tangy, spongy Ethiopian bread made with teff flour. (Teff, a fine, dark grain, is a staple of the Ethiopian diet.) The crispy squares, curled slightly at the edges for extra scooping power, come in four flavors: spicy (with super fiery bird’s eye chili); mild; sea salt and garlic; and cinnamon sugar.   

Tsiona Gourmet Ethiopian Foods stew mixes ($6.99, four servings) and chips ($3.49 for a six-ounce package) are available at Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant (5071 Nicholson Lane, Rockville) and at local Ethiopian markets, including Adarash (8706 Flower Ave., Silver Spring) and Ethiopia Plus (11303 Georgia Ave., Wheaton).
Tsiona Gourmet Ethiopian Foods, 301-922-2910, www.tsionafoods.com

The Washington Post article on injera crisps

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Injera Crisps

April 20, 2016

Spicy injera crisps made by Tsiona Foods in Rockville. (Goran Kosanovic/For The Washington Post)

CRUNCH IT: To call the Injera Crisps from Rockville-based Tsiona Foods addictive would be putting it mildly. The chips, made from pieces of the Ethio­pian flatbread injera, are the creation of Tsiona Bellete, who first made the crunchy bites at her Sheba Restaurantin Rockville. “We started serving the injera chips with brown lentil hummus, then everybody liked it,” says Bellete. As demand outgrew supply, Bellete and her husband, Samuel Seium, started making the crisps (plus other products, including stew mixes and — coming soon — hot sauces) at a facility near the restaurant.

The crisps, with that signature injera tang, come in four varieties: spicy, mild, cinnamon sugar, and sea salt and garlic. We tried the spicy ones, made fiery with mitmita, a piercing blend of bird’s-eye chili peppers, cardamom and other spices. Each variety is made from a combination of white, barley and teff flours; Bellete is experimenting with gluten-free crisps as well.

Watch out, pita chips; you have competition.

— Kara Elder

6 ounces, $3.49-$3.99. tsionafoods.com. Widely available (primarily at Ethio­pian markets) in the District, Maryland and Virginia. Find them in the District at Windows Cafe and Market; in Alexandria at Jano Mart; and in Silver Spring at Ethi­o­pia Plus . Note that crisps may be labeled with the name “Desta,” the company’s former name.

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Our Story:

Tsiona, the founder of Tsiona Foods, began packaging Ethiopian gourmet foods in small batches from her restaurant kitchen in 2014.  Her restaurant, Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant, conveniently located in the city of Rockville, Maryland, quickly became a favorite of the locals for its long-simmered flavorful ethiopian dishes, perfectly cooked with the best, and freshest ingredients, accented with authentic spices.  Serving delicious and authentic Ethiopian food to her customers was both Tsiona's passion and inspiration when she ran Sheba Restaurant — and it remains so to this day.  

Her deep rooted passion for culinary creativity and the enthusiasm of her customers, family and friends inspired her to reinvent the well known Ethiopian vegan stews in a dry form so that not just her restaurant clientele, but everyone, could enjoy the traditional Ethiopian cooking in the comfort of their own homes.

Never one to remain idle and wanting to share more of the Ethiopian food she grew up with and so loves, Tsiona added berbere blend sauces and injera chips — an Ethiopian spongy bread. The demand for Tsiona Foods quickly outgrew her restaurant kitchen and Tsiona Foods now operate out of a state licensed food processing facility in Rockville, however it still remains true to its humble beginnings by continuing to produce her foods in small batches using nothing but the finest authentic ingredients.