Our Ethiopian combo plate. From top right: ground beef with fenugreek; a simple green salad (chopped fine so you can pick it up with a piece of injera), shiro paste and kale.
We last made injera, the funky Ethiopian flatbread, about 2 years ago so it was time for a refresh. Our ersho (starter) was still functional thanks to a layer of non-chlorinated water on the top (teff flour doesn’t mix with water like wheat flour but consolidates in its own layer) and using this recipe we had pretty decent product about 5 days later. Then came a period of travel, so the 6 or so leftover injeras went into a giant zip lock bag on top of a plate (so they wouldn’t crack) with a paper towel between each layer.
Three weeks later they were still viable (the top layer showed spots of mold after a couple more days) so we made the components of the beyanetu, or combination plate, you see here:
Ye’shiro wot: a paste made from spicy shiro, a ground legume mix we picked up in San Francisco.
Ye’zelbo gomen b’karot: a vegetable dish with kale, carrots and onion.
Minchet abish: spicy ground beef with fenugreek.
Our injera after 3 weeks in the fridge, stored in a zip lock bag with paper towels between the layers.
The first two were from the wonderful Teff Love cookbook, the third from Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa (affiliate links!) by Yohanis Gebreyesus, a TV chef in Addis Ababa. We don’t like the latter book as much, but it has meat recipes which Teff Love lacks.
None of these dishes knocked us out with its flavor, but together they were a very satisfying combination. Ethiopian food isn’t something most folks are going to make at home due to the number of special ingredients as well as the strangeness of eating with your hands. But if you’re going to a large city with an Ethiopian market (or if you’re willing to pay the up charge and order from Amazon) be sure to pick up some teff flour (or packaged injera), shiro, berbere (ground chili mix) and dried koseret and besobela. The last two are strongly flavored leaves akin (in taste) to oregano or basil and they’re essential in making ye’quimem zeyet, the flavored oil which appears in almost every dish.
