Ethiopian Recipes

 

"From berbere, the spice blend that takes more than three days to achieve complexity

 within heat, to injera, our gluten-free daily teff flatbread, which also requires

three moons to acquire the perfect elasticity and taste, and of course let us not forget

coffee, the country’s first culinary gift to the world, this book will open your eyes to 

culinary wonders from Ethiopia, the Land of Origins."  Yohanis Gebreyesus, Ethiopia (p. 5).

From Ethiopia: Making injera.

The introduction to Ethiopia, my newest cookbook, names the three most characteristic foods of this African nation, whose cuisine is generally very unfamiliar: teff flatbread, berbere spice blend, and coffee, which is Ethiopia's contribution to world cuisine. It's a really well-organized and well-written cookbook, and I've now tried two recipes from it, as well as one Ethiopian recipe from the New York Times cooking section (link ). I thought that I would try making injera flatbread, but the all the recipes I've seen are insanely complicated, involving days and days in order to ferment the teff, a special grain from Ethiopia, which is baked on a specialized griddle. 

While I've eaten at Ethiopian restaurants a few times, I'm really not familiar with Ethiopian food at all. The characteristic berbere spice blend contains very hot pepper as well as other spices like nigella seeds, cloves, ajowan (an herb that grows in Ethiopia), onion, garlic, ginger, cardamom, basil, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and fenugreek. I've now tried a couple of recipes with the little jar of it that I bought from Penzey's, and though it's really hot, it has a  pleasant flavor. I have one or two more recipes from Ethiopia that I hope to try. Although the directions in the cookbook are very clear, the process of slicing and chopping vegetables and cooking the various elements of each dish are rather time-consuming, but in the end, it’s worth doing.

Shiro Wat from Samin Nosrat

A vegan stew of chickpea flour, tomatoes, and berbere spice.
Hot but very delicious.

Potatoes and Cabbage in Ginger Turmeric Sauce

The Ethiopian name for this dish is  “አትክልት | ATAKILT” — while the ingredients are all familiar and available in any American supermarket, the result is surprisingly flavorful and unexpected. The cookbook gives the Ethiopian recipe names in both the Amharic script and also a transliteration, which is very interesting.

I served the potato and cabbage dish with a salad and the
green beans from the cookbook.

Green Beans and Carrots

I also made the dish ፎሶልያ | FOSELIA, Sautéed String Beans and Carrots, from the recipe in Ethiopia. It was also delicious and unusual — and made entirely from commonly available ingredients.

Green beans and carrots in a sauce of tomato and onion.

Quite a delicious meal!

Update: Two More Recipes from Ethiopia

Squash/pumpkin stew with berbere and other spices,
plus lamb chops (meat exceptional!) with recommended spices,
eaten with a very good bottle of wine.

Blog post and photos © 2022 mae sander.