I've been craving Ethiopian food. So I made some! Today we had lunch in "Ethopia" (on Burnside).
Injira, lentils, celery root, tibbs (rare beef), and home-made ricotta. I also made the spice blend, berbere. Below is a photo of my practice Injira, with cheese, lentils and berbere.
The most important part, the spongy, crepe-like Injira, is also the most tricky. The batter is made with Teff flour that has to ferment overnight.
And the batter is difficult to work with. Very thick and difficult to turn. It's like a pancake with no elasticity. It just wanted to tear. But, I made a reasonable facsimile using the following recipe:
Injira
Servings: four pancakes (two per person)
8 oz teff flour
1.5 cups warm water
1 tsp yeast (I used quick rise)
Combine all ingredients. Cover, place outside for 24 hours to ferment.
Heat a pan on medium. Melt a small amount of ghee or clarified butter. Scoop one cup of batter into pan, swirl to spread batter. Cook, covered until dry on the top and covered in bubbles. Remove onto a plate, hold warm until needed.
Berbere (spice blend -- add oil to make it a sauce
Note: This recipe has a lot of spices. Just go to the cupboard and set aside dill, caraway and oregano. Pull out all other spices and combine with salt. Just kidding. Berbere is also known as "Perepere" says my friend Spike who spent two years in Africa with the Peace Corps.
The smell is musky and medicinal. It reminds me of a rub for sore muscles.
1/2 cup ground dried New Mexico chillies
1/4 cup paprika
1 T salt
1 t ground ginger
1 t onion powder *
1/2 t cardamom
1/2 t fenugreek *
1/2 t coriander
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t garlic powder *
1/8 t ground cloves
1/8 t cinnamon
1/8 t all spice *
* stuff that I didn't put in the berbere
Mix well. Sprinkle on anything for a little kick.
Stewed Lentils
8 oz lentils (green, red, yellow -- it doesn't matter)
2 onions, peeled and diced
5 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
1 tsp ginger, peeled and minced
1 T ghee or butter
1 T turmeric
2 1/2 cups water or stock.
OO tt
Saute onions until almost translucent. Add garlic, cook until fragrant. Add ginger, butter, turmeric, and water. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer 40 minutes or until the lentils begin to fall apart.
Creamy Celery Root
Clean and medium dice a large celeriac. Place in medium size pot. Barely cover with heavy cream and a fat pinch of salt. Simmer until the root is soft. Fold in 1/2 cup slivered almonds and 1 T red pepper flakes.
Iab (ayib) cheese
Drain ricotta for 3 hours. Crumble and serve wirh berbere.
Tibbs
This dish of finely chopped beef (like tartare) is quickly seared on one side in a smokin' hot saute pan and a little ghee (clarified butter). I love raw beef as much as the next gal but this dish requires slightly warm beef. Sprinkle the meat with berbere and serve. It'll look cooked on one side, raw on the other.
Bon Appetite!
