Ethiopian Night
I've loved Ethiopian food since I first had it on a visit to Washington, DC, years ago. Ever since then, I've looked for Ethiopian restaurants every place I've traveled because I never seem to be fortunate enough to live in a place that has one. The closest one to me now is about 3 1/2 hours away in Memphis, Tennessee. When I found that little restaurant, Memphis's appeal went up considerably!
Since I can't travel just in order to eat (though I can hardly think of a better reason!), I've managed to learn to make some passable Ethiopian-style dishes. Normally, Ethiopian food is served on and with a flat-bread called injera that is unlike any other bread I know. It's flat, but it's soft and spongy, not dense like a chapati or a tortilla. The food is served on top of one large injera, while additional injera is eaten with the food. You tear off a piece of injera and use it to pick up and eat a bite of food. It's brilliant! No utensils to wash!
Making injera at home is time-consuming, but it can be done. On run-of-the-mill nights I almost never go to the trouble. I rarely eat bread and prefer to stick to whole grains, so I serve Berberé Stew, a spicy lentil stew, over brown rice. The seasoning is rich with cinnamon, cloves, and nine other spices. I make up a big batch of the spice mix and keep it on hand to make this quick-cooking dish. It's simple, but it's one of my favorite recipes.
Last night I made a new dish to go along with the Berberé Stew. I had fresh green beans, so I decided on Ethiopian Green Beans and Potatoes. I made the recipe mostly as written, but I used 12 ounces of green beans instead of 8 and increased the seasonings a little to compensate. This was a much less spicy dish than the lentils, but its mildness was a good complement. It wasn't an exciting dish, but I'd have it again.
Now to start planning my next trip . . . .
Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free ethiopian
Labels: eat to live
posted by SusanV at 8:41 AM
9 Comments:
Oh, yum. I love ethiopian food. We're spoiled by having at least two really good ethiopian restaurants in Boston. Although, we frequented one so often when I was too nauseous to cook in my first trimester that I don't think we'll be able to go back there for a long, long time. I'm going to try the Berbere stew.
My parents have a house helper in Lebanon who is ethiopian. She is one of my favorite people in the world, and cooks mean ethiopian food all the time, which we feasted on when visiting. I think I need to get her to move to the US.
Never have I eaten Ethiopian food, though this is a must try.
I also love Ethopian music very much. It will be a good combo. Thanks Susan!
Yum! I would love to eat more ethiopian foods but they lack in my town and I am not sure how to make them.
I posted 2 soups today and a bunch of posts down the page you will see what I attempted for Friday's Dinner (and left overs were my lunch today)
What is the best Ethiopian restaurant in DC? I go there sometimes.
Hi Miriam! My husband lived and went to grad. school in Boston, and he's the one who introduced me to Ethiopian food. You're really lucky to have so many good restaurants there! But I don't know how you went there during your first trimester. I could eat only bland food during mine, and I had to get on the other end of the house when D. got take-out from our favorite Thai place. I couldn't even stand the smell. I joke that that's why our daughter doesn't like spicy food now--she wouldn't even eat it in utero! :-)
Isil, if you give it a try, let me know how you like it, please.
Harmonia, I'm heading right over to your blog to take a look at what you've got cooking!
Evangeline, it's been a while since I went, so I can't remember restaurant names. There were a bunch of them in the Adams Morgan section of town, and we just picked a couple to try. But here's a link to an article that may give you some good advice: http://www.washingtonian.com/dining/ethiopian.html (I tried to make that clickable, but sorry if it didn't work.)
Thanks for the compliments on my soup!
FYI: If you have a good Middle Eastern import grocery store in your area, sometimes you can find injera sold there. But as far as the texture goes, I would say that it is very similar to a French crepe.
Yum! I am SO making that stew!
Hi Susan,
I made this stew last year and loved it. I am planning on making it again this week. There is still some of the berberé spice mixture in my cupboard. How long does it keep? Or should I make some more?
Thanks in advance,
Paola
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