The Tesfa Alliance


Ethiopian Food How a Dinner is Served in Ethiopia A meal in Ethiopia is an experience. When you have dinner in an Ethiopian home or restaurant, you eat the tablecloth! One or two of the guests are seated on a low comfortable divan and a mesab, a handmade wicker hourglass-shaped table with a designed domed cover is set before them. The other guests are then seated round the table on stools about eight inches high covered with monkey fur. A tall, stunning woman with characteristically high cheekbones and soft skin, dressed in a shama, carries a long-spouted copper ewer or pitcher in her right hand, a copper basin (which looks like a spittoon) in her left hand, and a towel over her left arm. She pours warm water over the fingers of your right hand, holding the basin to catch the excess, and you wipe your hands on the towel that hangs over her arm. The mesab is taken out of the room and returned shortly with the domed cover. She removes the dome and the table is covered with what looks like a gray cloth overlapping the edge of a huge tray. But it is not a "tablecloth" at all. It is the Injera, the sourdough pancake-like bread of Ethiopia. Food is brought to the table in enamel bowls and portioned out on the "tablecloth!" When the entire Injera is covered with an assortment of stews, etc., you tear off a piece about two or three inches square and use this to "roll" the food in-the same way you would roll a huge cigarette. Then just swoop it up and pop it into your mouth. Your host might "pop" the first little "roll" in your mouth for you. It takes a bit of doing to accomplish this feat but once you master it, you cannot help enjoy It. Our server returns with individual long-necked bottles from which you drink Tej, an amber-colored honey wine. It is put on a little table close by. Or she may bring a weakly carbonated water or Tella, the homemade beer. You learn that you are eating Chicken Wat and Lamb Wat-two peppery stews- Iab-cottage cheese and yogurt with special herbs giving it an acidic lemon flavor; and Kitfo-ground raw beef, which we are told is considered the dessert of the meal. No other dessert is served. Coffee comes in on a tray in tiny Japanese cups served black with sugar. Dinner is concluded with hand-washing again and incense is burned. Menu from Ethiopia INJERA - Bread of Ethiopia IAB - Cottage Cheese and Yogurt DORO WAT - Chicken Stew with Hard-Boiled Eggs SEGA WAT - Lamb Dices KITFO - Tartar Steak QUEEN OF SHEBA SALAD - Spicy Salad DABO KOLO - Fried Cookies VEGETABLE ALECHA - Vegetable Stew Recipes INJERA Bread of Ethiopia Yield: 5 9-inch pancakes Combine: 1 cup BUCKWHEAT PANCAKE MIX 1 cup BISCUIT MIX 1 EGG Add: 1 Tbs. OIL 1 1/2-2 cups WATER to obtain an easy pouring consistency. Bring a 10-inch skillet or a handled griddle pan to medium heat uniformly over the flame. Do not let the pan get too hot. Spread 1/2 tsp. OIL over the pan with a brush. Fill a measuring cup (with spout) or a large cream pitcher with batter. Pour the mixture on the hot pan or griddle in a thin stream starting from the outside and going in circles to the center from left to right. As soon as it bubbles uniformly all over remove from heat. Pancakes should be 9 inches in diameter. Place the pan in an oven at 325' for about 1 minute until the top is dry but not brown. Arrange the five pancakes overlapping each other so as to completely cover a fifteen-inch tray, thus forming the Injera "tablecloth." This unleavened bread of Ethiopia is really a huge pancake made by the women in special large pans with heavy covers. The Tef batter is saved from an earlier baking and added to the new batter to give it a sourdough quality. It is poured at a thin consistency and baked covered so that the bottom of the pancake does not brown. The top should be full of air holes before the pancake is covered. The heavy cover steams the pancake so that when it is finished it looks like a huge thin rubber sponge. Since Tef is not available here, we had to find a way to simulate Injera in our test kitchen. The combination of buckwheat flour mix and biscuit mix seems to produce the closest substitute. Making it is easy, but getting the Injera texture takes a bit of experimentation, first, because not all pancake mixes are alike and secondly, it is important to cook the pancake at just the right temperature. This takes a bit of practice. IAB Cottage Cheese and Yogurt Yield: 1 quart Iab is a white curd cheese very much like the Greek feta. Special herbs are added (and sometimes chopped vegetables) which give it its characteristically acid taste. Since the cheese used in Ethiopia is not available here, this recipe is an attempt to simulate lab. In a 1-quart bowl: Combine: 1 Ib. SMALL-CURD COTTAGE CHEESE or FARMER CHEESE 4 Tbs. YOGURT 1 Tbs. GRATED LEMON RIND 1 tsp. SALAD HERBS 2 Tbs. CHOPPED PARSLEY 1 tsp. SALT 1/4 tsp. BLACK PEPPER. The mixture should be moist enough to spoon but dry enough to stay firm when served. Drain off excess liquid. One or two heaping tablespoons of lab is placed on the Injera before each guest. DORO WAT Chicken Stew Yield: 8 portions In Ethiopia, about 4 tablespoons of Ber-beri, Ethiopian red pepper, is used in each recipe. It is extremely hot. In our adaptation, we use cayenne pepper and paprika (which is not Ethiopian) to bring it to the characteristic dark color and flavor. Even cayenne pepper should be used sparingly. In a 4- to 6-quart Dutch oven or heavy stewpot: Brown 3 cups BERMUDA ONION chopped finely, without fat, until quite dark, stirring constantly. Add: 3 oz. BUTTER or OLIVE OIL 1/2 tsp. CAYENNE PEPPER 1 tsp. PAPRIKA 1/2 tsp. BLACK PEPPER 1/4 tsp. GINGER. Blend the seasonings into the onions. Add 1 cup WATER. Soak: 1 3-lb. CHICKEN cut in 1-inch pieces, bones left on and including neck and gizzards, in 2 cups WATER to which 1/4 cup LEMON JUICE has been added, for 10 minutes. Drain the water from each piece of chicken. Add chicken to onion mixture, stirring it through. Cover. Simmer over low heat until chicken is tender. Add more water, if necessary, to bring to stew texture (or if Wat is watery, thicken with 2 tablespoons of flour dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water). Add 8 PEELED HARD-BOILED EGGS a few minutes before serving. SEGA WAT Ethiopian Lamb Yield: 8 portions Proceed as above but use 2 Ibs. of lamb (from leg) instead of chicken and only 1 cup of chopped onions. The lamb is cut in l/2-inch cubes, the water is not added, and the lamb is sauteed on all sides until quite dry and well done. KITFO Ethiopian Tartar Steak Yield: 8 portions Chopped beef should be freshly ground just before serving. It is served raw. In a 9-inch skillet: Melt 2 oz. BUTTER. Add: 1/4 tsp. CAYENNE PEPPER 1/4 tsp. CHILI PEPPER 1 tsp. SALT and stir through thoroughly. Add 1 1/2 Ibs. LEAN ROUND STEAK, freshly ground, Mix thoroughly. Serve immediately. Do not cook. If your guests prefer the Kitfo cooked, saute it over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. QUEEN OF SHEBA SALAD Yield: 8 small salads In a 1-quart bowl: Combine: 1 1/2 Ibs. FIRM TOMATOES, cut in tiny wedges with seeds removed 1/2 cup SWEET ONIONS, finely chopped 1 clove GARLIC, finely chopped 1 HOT CHILI PEPPER, finely chopped 1/2 cup PEPPERONI, thinly sliced (optional). Sheba Sauce Combine: 1 cup KETCHUP 1/4 cup VlNEGAR 1/2 cup OIL 1/2 cup SWEET WHITE WINE (Muscatel or Madeira) 1 tsp. WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE 1 tsp. SALT 1/4 tsp. BLACK PEPPER few drops TABASCO SAUCE. Marinate the tomato mixture in the sauce. Serve in sauce dishes without lettuce or drain well and place in the center of the Injera. DABO KOLO Little Fried Snacks They will look like flat peanuts, and are served as a snack or with cocktails; and like peanuts, once you start eating them you can't stop. In a 1-quart bowl: Mix: 2 cups ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR 1/2 tsp. SALT 2 Tbs. SUGAR 1/2 tsp. CAYENNE PEPPER 1/4 cup OIL. Knead together and add WATER, spoonful by spoonful, to form a stiff dough. Knead dough for 5 minutes longer. Tear off a piece the size of a golf ball. Roll it out with palms of hands on a lightly floured board into a long strip 1/2 inch thick. Snip into 1/2-inch pieces with scissors. Spread about a handful of the pieces on an ungreased 9-inch frying pan (or enough to cover bottom of pan). Cook over heat until uniformly light brown on all sides, stirring up once in a while as you go along. Continue until all are light brown. VEGETABLE ALECHA Vegetable Stew Yield: 8 portions The Copts in Ethiopia have many fast days on which they are not permitted to eat meat. Vegetables Alechas and Wats are substituted on these days. (The Wat differs from the Alecha in that it is made with a spice called Ber-beri or Awaze.) In a 4-quart saucepan: Saute: 1 cup BERMUDA ONIONS in 4 Tbs. OIL until soft but not brown. Add: 4 CARROTS, peeled and cut in 1-inch slices 4 GREEN PEPPERS, cleaned and cut in quarters 3 cups WATER 1 6-oz. can TOMATO SAUCE 2 tsp. SALT 1/2 tsp. GROUND GINGER. Cook for 10 minutes covered. Add 4 POTATOES cut in thick slices. Plunge 2 TOMATOES in boiling water, remove skins, cut in 8 wedges each, and add to stew. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add 8 CABBAGE WEDGES, 1 inch wide. Sprinkle with SALT and PEPPER. Cook until vegetables are tender. Correct the Seasoning. Place in an attractive bowl and portion out uniformly.

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