Ethiopian cuisine...
Yay!!! At last I’ve stopped whinging about my health – I’ve even got my cooking mojo back – a definite sign I’m feeling better 
A couple of weeks ago I bought a bag of Teff flour and rather than doing my usual trick with wierd and unusual flours of letting them sit at the back of the shelf glaring balefully at me until they’re past their sell-by dates, I’ve been using it. My first attempt was to make a teff pie crust for a quiche – very easy – I basically used this one, but with a different filling – and loved the idea of pastry that you just press into the dish – none of this rolling it out nonsense, that always ends up having to be pressed together anyway as no matter what I do it falls apart hideously when I try to lift it.
Then there was John’s birthday cake, which was based on this recipe, but it was John’s birthday cake, and he doesn’t like bananas, so I improvised with stewed, pureed dried apricots instead – which worked fine, but next time I’m going to use more of them.
Then today there was the Ethiopian cuisine. Teff is an Ethiopian staple – it is the smallest grain in the world – 150 seeds equal the weight of a single grain of wheat. But far more importantly, teff is naturally gluten-free. I decided to try making Injera, so on Wednesday I measured out 1.5 cups of teff, mixed it with 2 cups of water and left it sitting in the airing cupboard to ferment. Then today I had a look at it – and sniffed it (couldn’t really avoid the whole sniffing thing – it was fairly potent), and decided that I’d rather make injera today than leave it for another 24 hours to ferment any further. So I investigated ethiopian recipes, and decided to make injera, doro wat (spicy chicken with eggs) and alicha (vegetable stew).
Except that when I came to cook the injera I bottled out. I made the first one, and tasted it and it was… not good. I’ve read that it should have a sour taste, so maybe it was fine, but leaving stuff to ‘go off’ before cooking it makes me nervous, so I improvised on the spot.
Anne’s very inauthentic Injera recipe
1/2 cup Dove’s Farm brown bread mix
1/2 cup Dove’s Farm plain white flour
1/2 cup Teff
2-3 cups water
1/2 teasp xanthan gum
1/2 teasp baking powder (don’t know if this was really necessary, but it was to make up for not leaving it to ferment for 3 days)
Mix together – it should be like a thinnish pancake batter – mine was a bit thicker than I imagine is ideal, but they worked out fine.
Heat a heavy-based frying pan (8” ) and grease with a little oil. Pour in a ladle-ful of batter and swirl round to cover the bottom of the pan. Leave on a low-to-moderate heat until the top ‘looks cooked’ then flip and cook the other side. (This is not authentic, they should only be cooked on one side, but maybe because I’d used different flours as well I much preferred the taste when it was cooked on both sides.)
Leave to cool – keep them separated (I used cling film) to avoid sticking.
Anne’s just as inauthentic Doro Wat
Chicken thighs cut in pieces(one per person) – I used 2 between 2 adults and 2 children – I could have used more.
Lime
Chopped Onion
Butter (or ghee) – 2-3 tbs
4 cloves garlic
ground ginger
ground fenugreek
ground cardamom
ground nutmeg
Berbere spice powder (or just use cayenne pepper)
small squirt of tomato puree
1 cup water
hard boiled eggs (1 per person)
I haven’t given quantities for the spices as this is largely down to personal preference. Since none of us here are particularly fond of very hot spices I used about 1/4 teasp of most of them, and 1/2 teasp of cayenne.
Combaine the chicken pieces with lime juice and leave to marinate for approx 30 min.
Dry fry onion over a medium heat for a few min. Then add the ghee, spices and tomato puree. Stir and simmer for a few min (don’t brown the onion). Then add water, cook for another few min, then add chicken – simmer for 30-40 min. When chicken has been cooking for about 20 min, add hard-boiled eggs.
Alicha (Vegetable stew) the way I made it
2 med onions, chopped
garlic puree
6 new potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 very large carrot (equivalent to about 3 ordinary ones)
Brussel sprout tops (I think these are probably fairly similar to collard greens)
ground nutmeg
ground cardamom
fresh parsley (chopped)
fresh basil (chopped)
(Theoretically this recipe should have about 6 chillis in it, but I simply used a little chilli oil – again, we’re not that keen on things being too hot.)
Briefly fry onions, add potato, carrot, cabbage, nutmeg and cardamom and approx 1 cup water. Cook for about 30 min. Then stir in fresh herbs.
You can read here how I should have served it all. I didn’t. I used plates, but no-one used any cutlery.
But I goofed big time. I may have thought “I should take a picture of this” as I was carrying it through to the dining room, but that was as far as it went.
I’ll have to make it again and remember about the camera next time…
ten comments:
What? No tall, stunning woman to wait on you? For shame! It sounds mouthwatering. And I am so glad to hear that you’re feeling better. Yay!rosie () (link) - 26 October '07 - 22:32
How funny to find this entry about Ethiopian cooking today – we’re most likely adopting from there! One of the yummiest cakes I’ve made was a simple banana cake using teff instead of wheat btw
Tatjana () (link) - 27 October '07 - 22:29
Teff’s a new one on me. I’ll have to give it a try.Pigwotknits () (link) - 27 October '07 - 22:44
Ethiopian food is simply amazing! Doro wat is one of my all-time favorites, as is yebeg alicha (made with lamb instead of the veggies). I’m impressed that you even attempted making injera—my many attempts have been wretched failures…. :)Tracy () (link) - 28 October '07 - 02:31
Thanks for the recipes. I’m always looking for new ideas.Big Ruth - 28 October '07 - 11:58
Sounds interesting (I’ve never heard of Teff before, but it looks like it’s got protein in too which is always good…
. Will have to find some once I’ve moved!
Daisy () (link) - 28 October '07 - 18:43
Will definitely have to check out Teff as we are being considered to adopt three girls one of whom is celiac – so anything gluten-free may well become of great importance in our house! And I would say you should persevere with the injera, I make sourdough and that has a “starter” in a similar way…and making cider also uses the same principle which is to have naturally ocurring yeasts producing the raising agent rather than adding yeast.Wendy () (link) - 30 October '07 - 00:50
(Oh! Just cancelled my comment. I’ll start again…You inspired me, so I made a new bread with a starter dough! Fig and date, but my dough just sat in the fridge overnight, then I made a second one and put the two together. Result? Yummy.
Oh, and I’ve ordered some yarn and needles from Angel Yarns. Excited now! (Just a tad nervous, but excited too)
Thank you! xx
Louise () (link) - 05 November '07 - 13:13
Hey there Anne,Can you remind us about your star presence in one of the knitting calendars for the year which starts in only 7 short weeks (don’t panic!)? I saw a calendar in the shop but couldn’t riffle through it so I’m not sure if it’s “yours” or not. Ta, Mary
Mary deB () (link) - 14 November '07 - 15:38
It sounds good and we aren’t big on hot spices either. I’ve never heard of Teff but now I’m going to have to look around and see if I can find some.Dorothy () (link) - 21 November '07 - 05:05
