Ethiopia! What a amazing country. The month went by fairly quickly. I think it helped that we spent the month together as a whole squad which made Christmas very special. I was struck by how beautiful the people were and how good the land was. It saddened me to then see the amount of poverty that existed in Addis Ababa, the capitol of Ethiopia. We got to talking to one of our taxi drivers and asked him what he thinks would really benefit his country. He told us Ethiopia could use more private investors to promote the improvement of education, roads, and power. That is now one of my prayers for this country, that these areas could be improved, and we would see Ethiopians really thrive. We stayed in Addis Ababa for the whole month at a guest house located between a theological school and a Baptist church.
The month was really about getting to know the people around us better, from our local breakfast lady, to our coffee shop workers, and our team mates. It was a very sweet time filled with epic volley ball games and a reckless game of night-time capture the flag. I’ll admit I sat out of capture the flag. I did not trust myself to not trip over a bush in the dark and wipe out on the rocky dirt. I still really enjoyed listening to the screams and laughter of those who did play. Over all, my favorite part besides getting to know the locals better was, surprise surprise, the food!
Plenty of road side fruit stands exist. Almost daily I was getting to eat bananas, papaya, mangos, and avocados. They also had pineapple, apples, and watermelon. We did not have a kitchen where we were staying, so we got pretty creative. It did not take long to realize that the road side stands offered everything to make guacamole and salsa! A grocery store up the street a ways had tortilla chips too. Some of my squad mates discovered a small stone ledge in the corner of a hip-high stone wall that had a grate over it. It was apparent that it had been used in the past to make fires in, so my squad mates used it to cook a couple of times. They roasted bell peppers and sweet potatoes, and they even popped popcorn one day! Some one had the bright idea to use this local Ethiopian flat bread to make cheese quesadillas with. Thus our Christmas dinner was cheese quesadillas with guacamole, salsa, tortilla chips, and pineapple Fanta soda with peppermint bark and no bake oatmeal cookies for dessert. It was all very, very tasty! In the evenings a couple of entrepreneurial ladies on our street would set up a small portable fryer in front of their little shops and sell French fries. At only 5 birr ($0.16) for the equivalent of a small fry at McDonalds, they quickly became a staple in our squad. Our favorite thing to do was to dip the fries into guacamole. Another great morning staple was chocolate glazed donuts. A man with a small bakery right across the street from where we stayed made the best donuts! It was always a race, though, to wake up early enough to ensure you got a donut before the rest of the nostalgic Americans in your group beat you to them all.
Coffee!
I want to devote a whole paragraph to coffee alone. I definitely think it deserves it, after all, they say that coffee was founded in Ethiopia. The story goes that one day a goat farmer was tending to his goats and noticed that when the goats would eat the red berries from this one plant, they became more energized. The farmer was very curious by this oddity, so he ate a few of the berries himself. Almost immediately he could feel the effect they had. He felt more awake with plenty of energy. He took some of the berries to some near by monks and told them of his great discovery. The monk that the goat farmer first showed them to was a bit disturbed. The monk cried out, “Devil berries!” and threw them into the fire. They heard a crack and a pop come from the fire and a wonderful aroma filled the room. They fished out the berries from the fire which had turned a dark brown color, crushed them up, and brewed them in some water. The resulting beverage was heavenly. The monks continued to drink the newly invented drink because they found it helped them stay awake for their long overnight prayer sessions. Now-a-days, coffee is drunken three times a day by Ethiopians, and the Ethiopian coffee ceremony is a favorite. You can not go more than ten feet without seeing a little coffee stand set up. The stand operators, always women due to tradition, roast the beans in a pan over this small charcoal filled hourglass shaped vessel. They then crush up the beans in a giant mortar and pestle. The crushed beans are then put into a traditional clay coffee pot that has a thin neck and small spout and boiled in the same vessel the beans were roasted on. This coffee is treated like espresso. You are given an espresso sized cup with no handle on a saucer with sugar in the bottom and a small tea spoon. When the coffee has reached a boil, it is taken off the heat by your host and poured into your cup. Ethiopians don’t really believe in giant cups of coffee like Americans do. No matter where you go, though, the coffee is just GOOD. After drinking a lot of instant coffee in Asia, it was a blessing to drink so much good coffee.
Our favorite breakfast spot was owned by a beautiful woman known to all of us by the nick name Messy. Ethiopian names are pretty hard to pronounce. The squad’s favorite dish of hers was called the special fold. It consisted of scrambled eggs and baked beans in a small sliver bowl topped with minced jalapeños and red onions. It was served on a sliver platter with two rolls. The Ethiopian way to eat is to use your bread as your sliver ware. So you tear off a piece of bread, scoop up some eggs and beans with it, and pop the whole thing in your mouth. It was such a delicious blend of flavors, and I loved to eat it with my hands. Messy also made a good egg sandwich among other dishes. I loved to sit there while I was waiting on my food and see what the locals coming in would eat. There was no menu at this place, so you kinda had to just know what she could and could not do.
My absolute favorite day in Ethiopia was when Annie and I took a cooking class/food tour of the city. First, we went to a village just out side of the city and visited with a really sweet mama. She taught us to make injera the traditional way. Injera is a flat spongey sourdough bread that Ethiopians eat with shared platters. It is made with a local grain called teff. The teff is turned into flour, then you combine it with water and yeast to make a very thin batter. It sits for three days to ferment. The batter is then poured onto a wide clay plate heated underneath by burning dried eucalyptus leaves. This gets covered by a lid and cooked for approximately 2-3 minutes. After that it is picked up with a big straw woven mat and set aside to use later. Annie and I learned how to pour the batter properly so you end up with an nice even layer of bread. We then got to eat it! This bread is not meant to be eaten by itself. You place it on a big sliver platter and put different foods on top. The injera is your plate and spoon. You tear off the edges and use it to scoop up your food and eat it all together. Our sweet mama served the injera with a potato stew and two different types of chili paste on top. So so good! The rest of our day was spent drinking a local honey wine called taj, and getting a tour of the town and its history. We also got to eat a injera platter at another local spot. This platter was piled high with different kinds of meat, spaghetti, goat cheese, egg, and even some rice. The best part is that platters are meant to be shared and eaten together. I love the sense of community it invites. We got to share all these fabulous experiences with our tour guide and really get to know him. A day spent with good food and good company, what could be better than that?
I could probably go on and on easily. What really I think distinguishes the food of Ethiopia is a spice blend called berbere (pronounced kind of like bayah-bayah) that is found in the majority of their traditional foods. The blend is primarily made up of a red chili dried and ground mixed with fenugreek, paprika, ginger, coriander, and other ground spices. It is definitely on the spicy side. I did a little research and pulled a recipe for the spice blend and a dish to prepare it with from a reliable website to share with you all.
Berbere
Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek
1/2 cup ground dried New Mexico chilies
1/4 cup paprika
1 Tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon powdered garlic
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Finely grind fenugreek seeds in an electric coffee grinder/spice grinder. Combine with rest of ingredients and mix well. Store in an air tight container for up to 6 months.
Kik Wat (Ethiopian red lentil stew)
Ingredients
2 yellow onions minced
2 red onions minced
12 garlic cloves minced
3/4 cups canola oil
1/4 cup berbere spice
1 can of crushed tomatoes
2 1/2 cups of red lentils
5 cups of water
3/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
-Place oil, onions, and garlic in a large pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are softened. Add berbere, combine, and cook for about 3 minutes more until very fragrant.
-Add crushed tomatoes to the pot and cook until tomatoes are starting to break down into the stew about 15 minutes. Add lentils, stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add water, stir, and cook until lentils are cooked through about 15 minutes. Add cardamom and salt and pepper to taste.
-ladle over steamed rice and serve with your favorite vegetables. Enjoy!
If you don’t want to go to the trouble of making the spice blend but still want to try this recipe, you can easily substitute a curry powder spice mix blend found in most super markets. It won’t technically be Ethiopian, but it will still be tasty. If lentils aren’t your thing, this spice blend goes great with beef, chicken, eggs, vegetables, and stews. I got this recipe off of a website called Allrecipes.com. Feel free to visit the site yourself to find even more easy to prepare Ethiopian dishes.
I am looking forward to all I will get to see and experience this coming month in Kenya. We have a host for this month, and I can already tell it’s going to be a wild time.
Till next time my friends. God bless.
