Ethiopian Feast

 

Happy MoFo Week 2, guys!

Do you like Ethiopian food? I first ate it several years ago in Philly. I remember being a little wary of scooping up the lentils and veggies with nothing but my fingers and some weird spongy bread. No utensils?  But of course it was awesome! I made it a point to eat Ethiopian food whenever I could find it from then on. However, where I live now, there's no Ethiopian restaurant nearby. After eating it in Montreal last month, I vowed to learn how to make it myself so I wouldn't have to wait until my next vacation to have it again!

First, I tried making "traditional" injera. Injera is the light, crepe-like bread that you tear into pieces and use in place of utensils to pick up the food and transfer it to your mouth. It tastes like sourdough. The way I understand it, in Ethiopia, injera is made from only teff flour and water, with a little salt added. It is fermented for at least 24 hours and up to three days. I found a recipe, mixed up the batter, and left it sitting out on my counter. The next day, my kitchen smelled like gym socks and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad, so I went ahead and made the injera. It was really flat, not puffy like the kind I've had in restaurants. It also had a strong nutty, fermented taste. There was no way anyone in my house was going to eat this injera.

Luckily I had a backup plan -- the injera recipe from Vegan Lunch Box. This sounded more like the bread that is served in Ethiopian restaurants in the U.S. -- softer and fluffier, with a mild flavor. This recipe worked perfectly -- no fermentation necessary! I couldn't believe how easy it was.

The other dishes I made were gomen (collard greens), mesir wat (spicy red lentils), and atakilt wat (cabbage and carrot stew).

The greens were my favorite -- very garlicky and gingery. The lentils were savory and spicy, and the cabbage stew was mild and buttery. I think that's why I like Ethiopian food, because each dish seems to complement the others and there's a nice variety of flavors.

The feast took about two hours to prepare. There were a ton of veggies to chop, and also, I only have one big pot, so I had to wait for the lentils to get done before I could make the cabbage stew. I didn't mind since I had my little entertainer with me. Check out his drum solo.

If you like Ethiopian food or even if you've never had it before, I encourage you to try the recipes linked above, because they are good ones and not hard to prepare. You'll be surprised how much it tastes like restaurant food, or at least, I was!