Ethiopian food

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

My latest obsession.

Nigel's Lazy Berbere:

2 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. fenugreek
1⁄2 tsp. black pepper
1⁄4 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cardamom
1/8 tsp. cloves

OK, here's the lazy part. Usually all of the above are whole, and you toast them in a skillet and then grind them. The toasting is crucial to the flavor. However, I couldn't find my spice grinder OR my whole allspice, so I came up with the cunning plan of mixing pre-ground spices together, spreading the mixture thinly in a pie tin, and toasting it in the toaster oven. It worked fine! Probably not as good as using whole spices and then grinding them, but close enough.

Then mix the toasted spices with:

1⁄2 cup onion powder or granules
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
3 tbsp. paprika
2 tsp. salt
1⁄2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1⁄2 tsp. ground ginger
1⁄2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Store it in a jar & you're good to go!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

My version of misir wet:

1 cup small lentils
4 tbsp. butter
1 small yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp. berbere
1 small tomato, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
8 largish mushrooms, quartered
3 cups chicken broth
Salt to taste

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add the onions, and cook until it starts to darken. Add the garlic and celery, stir in, then add the lentils, tomato, broth, mushrooms, and one tbsp. of berbere. Simmer for about 45 minutes, then add the other tbsp. of berbere and salt to taste.

This is supposed to be served with a sour, flat bread called injera, but since I didn't have the ingredients and don't know how to make it, I served it over quinoa seasoned with lemon juice.

[LMNO]

Wow, that sounds great.

[East Coast Hustle]

I may be exposing myself as a child of the 80's here, but I always have trouble not making the obligatory "Ethiopian food....isn't that an oxymoron?" comment.

but yeah, their food is yummy.

[Richter]

Collin: We better stop at McDonalds, I'm hungry.

Molly:  But we're going to that Ethiopian restraunt.

Collin:  Yeah, we better stop at McDonalds, I'm hungry.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'll post more recipes as I try them.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I am a fan of Ethiopian food... except the vinegary bready stuff is not my favorite flatbread...

[LMNO]

Although I love the spicyness of the food, it has a singular power to run through my digestive tract in under 20 minutes, and explode outwards in a truly horrible, burning fashion.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Do you think it's because it's so legume-heavy and your system isn't used to that, or do you think it's a reaction to the spices? The nice thing about making your own is that you can tweak it, make it less spicy, leave out the coriander (since a lot of people are allergic to coriander) or what have you.

My next experiment is going to be the mushroom & beef stew & the yellow split peas (LO loves the "yellow beans" as she calls them), and getting hold of some teff flour so I can learn to make injera.

[East Coast Hustle]

The Bob's Red Mill store sells teff flour.

[Nast]

The Bob's Red Mill store sells teff flour.

Oh, you guys have a Bob's Red Mill store in Portland? I've just seen their brand around here in other stores, and the teff flour was pretty expensive.
Injera is great, though! Which is probably my Californian predisposition to sourdoughy flavor talking.

[Nast]

Although I love the spicyness of the food, it has a singular power to run through my digestive tract in under 20 minutes, and explode outwards in a truly horrible, burning fashion.

Ethiopian food also traditionally uses a lot of oil. I'm sure all that fat combined with spicy food would upset many people's stomachs.

[Iason Ouabache]

Although I love the spicyness of the food, it has a singular power to run through my digestive tract in under 20 minutes, and explode outwards in a truly horrible, burning fashion.

You act like this is a bad thing.

I'm not brave enough to experiment with Ethopian food on my own but there is supposed to be a really good Ethiopian restaurant in Broad Ripple. I could use some spicy food right now because my sinuses are killing me.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The Bob's Red Mill store sells teff flour.

Yeah, also I am sure the merkado on MLK has some.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Although I love the spicyness of the food, it has a singular power to run through my digestive tract in under 20 minutes, and explode outwards in a truly horrible, burning fashion.

Ethiopian food also traditionally uses a lot of oil. I'm sure all that fat combined with spicy food would upset many people's stomachs.

I always use a lot of oil, but yeah, ethiopian food calls for EVEN MORE OIL. Not necessarily a bad thing.