At the beginning of July, I was in Addis Ababa for 4 days of meetings. Whilst there, my Kenyan colleague John, and I, were taken out for a traditional Ethiopian meal by 3 of our Ethiopian colleagues. I’d had Ethiopian food in Nairobi but this seemed different somehow, maybe because of the setting, or the company, or because it really was the real thing.
The staple Ethiopian food is injera, a thin sour-tasting bread, upon which are served various meat and vegetable dishes (Wots, Tibs and Fitfit) with their distinctive spicy flavours. The Injera is also used to scoop up mouthfuls of the sauces and meat from the shared plate. The main ingredient of Injera is Teff. This is the tiniest cereal and used as a staple food only in Ethiopia, where it is believed to have originated between 4000 and 1000 BC. Injera preparation usually takes two to three days. The teff is ground, then mixed in water along with yeast, and then set aside at room temperature for 2 days so it ferments and rises. After the fermentation process is finished, the mix is cooked on a hot flat iron pan called 'Mitad'. A circular motion is used to achieve a thin consistency. On contact between the hot pan and the fermented teff mix/batter, thousands of tiny air bubbles escape, creating tiny craters/eyes on the side facing upwards, whilst the side touching the hot mitad pan is flat. It’s this porous structure which allows the injera to be a good bread for scooping up sauces. Restaurants will serve your dishes on injera and bring a side dish of rolled-up injera for scooping purposes.
Eating with Inj
era – Handling Instructions
1. Tear off a small piece (size of your palm)
2. The side with holes is the one that makes contact with the sauce / meat
3. Scoop or grab one or more lots of sauce / meat with the injera
4. Use your fingers (one hand only) to control so that pieces don’t fall out
5. When the excess injera has gone, you can eat the bottom / tablecloth injera. This will now be saturated with the juices and flavours of the sauces.
Eating with Inj
era – Handling Instructions1. Tear off a small piece (size of your palm)
2. The side with holes is the one that makes contact with the sauce / meat
3. Scoop or grab one or more lots of sauce / meat with the injera
4. Use your fingers (one hand only) to control so that pieces don’t fall out
5. When the excess injera has gone, you can eat the bottom / tablecloth injera. This will now be saturated with the juices and flavours of the sauces.
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