Taste Injera and Other Ethiopian Foods

Sheila: This is the Injera oven. Where does the fire go? Male: This is where thy fire the food. Sheila: It’s there, flat? Male: Yeah. Sheila: So it’s all flat then. Male: Yeah. Sheila: Got it very interesting. Male: So, when they make the food in here, they could just cover on top until it gets cooked. Sheila: About how long does it take to cook? Male: About actually a hundred minutes. Sheila: So you make about fifteen or twenty at a time. Male: Yeah. Sheila: So did they just roll it out, cook it, make another one and cook it? Male: Yes. Sheila: Etcetera, and that one is for bead—the first step to Injera traditional food is to wash your hands— Male: Because we’re all sharing the food. Sheila: Explain it to me. Male: This is thick bread. As you see, it’s simmers. And here you put the sauce from beef. Sheila: That’s beef sauce? Male: It’s not beef, it’s a goat sauce. Sheila: Goat sauce. Male: Not sauce from beef. Sheila: Back there was? Male: It’s a sauce from beef but with different spice. This is a sauce from chicken. Normally, when they prepare chicken here in Ethiopia, they cut int0 12 parts—thighs, the leg, the breast and everything and they serve that meat, we add now the cheese. It’s very light, it’s not spicy basically. Sheila: And are those lentils at the back there? Male: No, it’s not lentils. It’s what we call coulettin, an Italian language. Sheila: Whatever it is. Male: But it’s a sauce also from cows. Sheila: So this right here is a dark Injera and that’s a light one. Male: Yeah, different ones. Sheila: How come they bring bread also? Male: They want to eat bread. Sheila: They just eat bread? Male: Yeah. Sheila: Alright, I’m going to try this, like pan stew? Male: Yes. Sheila: Can I take a piece? Male: Yes. Sheila: The fume is like rubber, Injera. Alright, which one’s I’m going to try first? Male: I don’t know. Sheila: Anyone? Alright, I see, take it like that? Male: Yes. Sheila: And you just do this. It’s good. Definitely, it’s good. Male: Yeah, it’s a sauce from beans. Sheila: From beans? Male: Yeah, it’s richer in sauce. Sheila: It’s a texture of beans but smells like a rubbery, you know. Alright, it’s very tasty. Which one is spicy? I like spicy. Male: This or this one, chicken and the beef sauce. Sheila: So you just go like that? Male: Yeah. Sheila: Alright. Male: These are both spicy, but we prepared sauces, yeah. Sheila: You’ll like it, better than eggs and ham. Unbelievably huge lunch for about $2.00 a person—fish, steak, salads, potatoes, rice, and two Coca-Colas. Lentils. I’ll set up our little table for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we’re cooking for the next five days. Male: We’re stocking sugar, cream, salt, pepper— Sheila: Toothpicks and coffee.