Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Lesson: the food of Ethiopia

As part of my last week at Souper Jenny, Jenny decided to order some lunch yesterday from the cuisine of my choice. Hmmm.

Thai? Sushi?

Nope, Ethiopian! It's been forever since I've dined on Ethiopian food. Of course, there were the endless jokes about them eating rice and dirt. Okay, folks, enough. The witty banter from the 80s is, what shall I say?...um, DATED!

Ethiopian cuisine is stinkin' great. It's communal dining eaten with your hands. How much cooler can you get? Anyway, enough with the jokes people. Here's another lesson.

Ethiopia, located in Northeast Africa at the base of the "horn," is a country more commonly associated with political upheavals and drought, rather than gastronomy. Yet Ethiopian cuisine offers an exceptional and exquisite array of flavorful food that is unique to Africa and the world. Ethiopian food is the ultimate in spicy cookery, not only because the food is hot, but also because of the wide variety of spices used.

Ethiopian Recipes
Spice Paste (Berbere)
Chicken Stewed in Red Pepper Paste (Doro Wat)
Eggplant Salad
Spiced Butter (Niter Kebbeh)
Beef Stewed in Red Pepper Paste (Sik Sik Wat)
Chick Pea Fritters (Yeshimbra Assa)
Lentil Salad (Yemiser Selatta)
Vegetables with Garlic and Ginger (Yataklete Kilkil)
Honey Yeast Bread (Yemarina Yewotet Dabo)

Ethiopian cuisine consists of various vegetable or meat side dishes and entrees, usually a wat or thick stew, served atop
injera, a large sourdough flatbread made out of fermented teff flour. One does not eat with utensils, but instead uses injera (always with the right hand) to scoop up the entrees and side dishes.

For more information: Ethiopia on
Wikipedia

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