Ethiopian cuisine
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Ethiopian cuisine characteristically consists of spicy vegetable and meat dishes, usually in the form of wat (or wot), a thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread, which is about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in diameter and made out of fermented teff flour. Ethiopians eat with their right hands, using pieces of injera to pick up bites of entrées and side dishes. No utensils are used.
Traditional Ethiopian cuisine employs no pork of any kind, as most Ethiopians are either Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, Muslims or Jews, and are thus prohibited from eating pork. Furthermore, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church prescribes a number of fasting (tsom Ge'ez: ጾም tṣōm) periods, including Wednesdays, Fridays, and the entire Lenten season, so Ethiopian cuisine contains many vegetarian (Amharic: ye-tsom የጾም ye-ṣōm, Tigrinya: nay-tsom ናይጾም nāy-ṣōm) dishes. This has also led Ethiopian cooks to develop a rich array of cooking oil sources: besides sesame and safflower, Ethiopian cuisine also uses nug (also spelled noog, known also as niger seed).[1] Ethiopian restaurants are a popular choice for vegetarians living in Western countries.
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[edit] Types of Ethiopian Cuisine
Berbere, a combination of powdered chile pepper and other spices (somewhat analogous to Southwestern American chili powder), is an important ingredient used in many dishes. Also essential is niter kibbeh, a clarified butter infused with ginger, garlic, and several spices.
[edit] Wat
Wat stews all begin with a large amount of chopped red onions, which the cook simmers or sautees in a pot. Once the onions have softened, the cook adds niter kebbeh (or, in the case of vegan dishes, vegetable oil). Following this, the cook adds berbere to make a spicy keiy (Amharic: ቀይ ḳey, Tigrinya, Ge'ez: ቀይሕ ḳeyyiḥ; "red") wat, or may omit the berbere for a milder alicha wat or alecha wat (Amharic: አሊጫ ālič̣ā). In the event that the berbere is particularly spicy, the cook may elect to add it before the kibbeh or oil so the berbere will cook longer and become milder. Finally, the cook adds meat such as beef (siga, Ge'ez: ሥጋ śigā), chicken (Amharic: ዶሮ dōrō, Tigrinya: ደርሆ derhō), fish (Amharic: asa), goat or lamb (Amharic: beg, Tigrinya በግዕ beggiʕ); legumes such as split peas (Amharic: ክክ kik, Tigrinya: ክኪ kikkī) or lentils (Amharic: ምስር misir, Tigrinya: ብርስን birsin); or vegetables such as potatoes (dinich, Amharic: ድንች dinič, Tigrinya ድንሽ diniš), carrots and chard (Tigrinya: costa).
[edit] Tibs
Alternatively, rather than being prepared as a stew, meat or vegetables may be sautéed to make tibs (also tebs, t'ibs, tibbs, etc., Ge'ez ጥብስ ṭibs). Tibs is served normal or special, "special tibs" is served on a hot dish with vegetables (salad) mixed in. The mid-18th century European visitor to Ethiopia, Remedius Prutky, describes tibs as a portion of grilled meat served "to pay a particular compliment or show especial respect to someone."[2]
[edit] Kitfo
Another distinctive Ethiopian dish is kitfo (frequently listed as ketfo), which consists of raw (or rare) ground beef marinated in mitmita (Ge'ez: ሚጥሚጣ mīṭmīṭā, a very spicy chili powder) and niter kibbeh. Gored gored is very similar to kitfo, but uses cubed, rather than ground, beef.
[edit] Breakfast
Firfir or fitfit, (Ge'ez: ፍርፍር firfir; ፍትፍት fitfit) made from shredded injera with spices, is a typical breakfast dish. Another popular breakfast food is dulet (Ge'ez: ዱለት dūlet), a spicy mixture of tripe, liver, beef, and peppers with injera. Fatira consists of a large fried pancake made with flour, often with a layer of egg, eaten with honey. Chechebsa (or kita firfir) resembles a pancake covered with berbere and kibbeh, or spices, and may be eaten with a spoon.
[edit] Beverages
Tej is a honey wine, similar to mead, that is frequently drunk in bars (in particular, in a tej bet; Ge'ez ጠጅ ቤት ṭej bēt, "tej house"). katikal and araki are inexpensive local spirits that are very strong.
Coffee (buna) originates from Ethiopia, and is a central part of Ethiopian beverages. Equally important is the ceremony which accompanies the serving of the coffee, which is sometimes served from a jebena (ጀበና), a clay coffee pot in which the coffee is boiled. In most homes a dedicated coffee area is surrounded by fresh grass, with special furniture for the coffee maker. A complete ceremony has three rounds of coffee and is accompanied by the burning of frankincense.
[edit] Serving style
A mesob (Ge'ez: መሶብ mesōb) is a tabletop on which food is traditionally served. The mesob is usually woven from straw. It has a lid that is kept on it til time to eat. Just before the food is ready, a basin of water and soap is brought out for washing one's hands. When the food is ready, the top is taken off the mesob and the food is placed in the mesob. When the meal is finished, the basin of water and soap is brought back out for the hands to be washed again.
[edit] Gurage dishes
Gurage cuisine additionally makes use of the false banana plant (enset, Ge'ez: እንሰት inset), a type of ensete. The plant is pulverized and fermented to make a bread-like food called qocho or kocho (Ge'ez: ቆጮ ḳōč̣ō), which is eaten with kitfo.[3] The root of this plant may be powdered and prepared as a hot drink called bulla (Ge'ez: ቡላ būlā), which is often given to those who are tired or ill. Another typical Gurage preparation is coffee with butter (kebbeh).
The most popular Gurage main dish is kitfo. Gomen kitfo is another dish prepared in the occasion of Meskel, a very popular holiday marking the discovery of the True Cross. Collard greens (ጎመን gōmen) are boiled, dried and then finely chopped and served with butter, chili and spices.
[edit] References
- ^ Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A history of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrove, 2000), p. 12 and note
- ^ J.H. Arrowsmith-Brown (trans.), Prutky's Travels in Ethiopia and other Countries with notes by Richard Pankhurst (London: Hakluyt Society, 1991), p. 286
- ^ "Uses of Enset" (HTML). The 'Tree Against Hunger': Enset-Based Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1997. http://www.aaas.org/international/africa/enset/uses.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
[edit] External links
- Ethiopian Restaurants: Worldwide Listing
- Eating and Drinking in Ethiopia
- Spicy Food from the Cradle of Civilization
- Injera recipe Injera is a traditional Ethiopian bread
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