Ethiopian food is distinctive and delicious, befitting a remarkable country with a cultural heritage that stands out from the rest of Africa. While the cuisine of Ethiopia is gradually becoming better known, it’ss no overstatement to say it remains one of the world ss best-kept secrets niter kibbeh. Eating Ethiopian-style means rethinking many assumptions you might have about dinnertime — for most of us, this means starting with eschewing cutlery and being ready to get messy fingers.
That’s because the foundation of the vast majority of Ethiopian meals is injera, a giant gray spongey pancake-like bread, upon whose strangely rubbery surface are served a vast array of foods, ranging from multicolored mounds of spicy stews to vegetable curries to cubes of raw meat.This mode of eating is highly communal, with everyone gathering around a large circular metal tray of injera heavily laden with food as hands go back and forth scooping up from the various piles of foodstuffs with strips of injera torn from the edges.
All this can take some getting used to. Tourists have been known to mistake injera for the tablecloth or for kitchen flannel. Also, the thread’s bitter, slightly sour taste can put some off. Butinjera’ss subtle taste-enhancing power lies in how it contrasts beautifully with, as well as tempers, the fiery sauces it accompanies.Ethiopians, like Indians, aren’t shy of adding spices. One of the most common accompaniments is berbere, an Ethiopian spice mix containing up to 16 constituent elements, including chili powder, fenugreek, ginger, garlic, cardamom and cinnamon.
Another bonus of eating Ethiopian is that injera is made from tef — the world’s smallest grain — which Ethiopians have grown and obsessed about for millennia. In America and Europe, it is increasingly viewed as a “super grain” with quinoa and spelt, high in protein and calcium, and gluten-free.If you live in a sizable city, chances are you’ve tried Ethiopian food. Even the long-running cartoon sitcom The Simpsons include an episode where Marge and the kids learn to “rip and di” into the rich stew you’ll find on an Ethiopian table.
The cuisine is one of the world’s healthiest and most flavorful, not to mention most photogenic. Ethiopians are rightly proud of their culture and take pains to preserve traditional foodways.This is a land where extreme hospitality reigns. It’s a great meal by pairing recipes such as Messer Wot (Spiced lentils) or Doro Alicha (Chicken with Onions and Spiced Butter Sauce) with Injera (Ethiopian flatbread) to soak up the delicious flavour and species. Popular breakfast options include Enkulal Tibs (scrambled eggs ) made with the combination of red and green tomatoes, peppers, and sometimes onions served with bread.
By using a hands-on method along with plenty of fresh vegetables and bite-sized, soft chunks, Ethiopian food is a delicious and enjoyable method to encourage your child to get more veggies into their diet. The meals are served family-style and served with injera, a soft flatbread made of gluten-free whole grain Teff. Injera is used to help thick stews of meat or vegetable (called wots or wats).
