More food porn

[sabotabby]

I did warn you.

This is an easy one. Like, surprisingly easy, assuming you live in the right kind of neighbourhood, which I do. Otherwise I imagine it's a pain in the ass.

Ethiopian is pretty much my favourite overall cuisine but, unlike my other favourite foods, it tends to be one I'm afraid of making, largely because the one time I tried it came out gross. This avoidance is enabled by the fact that there is a really excellent Ethiopian place across the street from me and several others within stumbling distance, so why bother doing it myself?

Because I can, that's why. And also because no one at work will go out for Ethiopian food for lunch with me and while this is a stupid thing to bring to lunch when you tend to eat at your desk and not always have access to a sink, I'm clearly going to do it anyway.

So I was walking home, past one of the many little convenience stores along my route, when I thought, "wait a sec, I wonder if I can get berbere here?" It looked like the kind of convenience store where they don't sell anything other than $5 deodorant and energy drinks, but inside, lo and behold, there before me was a whole rack of unlabelled spices, facing another rack of exciting obscure flours and lentils. Shyly, I asked, "do you have berbere?"

The two women working there looked at me like I was a particularly entertaining cat video. "You know what berbere is?" one asked. "You like berbere?"

I nodded. She handed me a massive fucking container of berbere. "Be careful with it," she advised me. "It's spicy. Start with two teaspoons."

I promised I'd be careful. I was not planning to be careful. Deciding that this was a magical convenience store, I asked if they also had injera. She handed me a massive fucking package of injera. The two women then proceeded to question me on my experience with making Ethiopian food (none) and what I liked (all of it) and both of them gave me tips. Which amounted to fry onions, put in spices, fill with delicious things, and nuke the injera for about a minute.

Anyway I made d'ba zigni and it came out amazingly:



The recipe is here. I followed it pretty exactly except that I used canned pumpkin (I know) and tomato sauce rather than puréeing tomatoes because I was lazy and didn't want to go out again. I also tasted it about halfway through and decided that it needed more berbere, because I am not a careful person.

Verdict: Do it my way and it takes far less time than it says in the recipe (we're talking like 10-15 minutes), and basically tastes like the d'ba zigni I've had at restaurants.

I meant to take a taste and I ended up shovelling massive amounts of it into my mouth. Oops. This was not supposed to be for dinner tonight. Fortunately it makes a not-miniscule quantity—I guess to go along with the ridiculous amount of injera I now have in my fridge. I might make some misir wat to go along with it this weekend because apparently that is pretty easy too.

Comments

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Where is the store?

[sabotabby]

On the Danforth, just east of Greenwood. I don't know what it's called but it's between the Tim's and the Dragon Mart on the south side, and has Ethiopian writing on the sign, which was how it occurred to me to go in. It also...smells a lot more pleasant than you'd expect a convenience store to smell, if that makes sense?

Also, there are two or three other stores that look like it in the general vicinity, which leads me to wonder if it's common to find excellent things in convenience stores that one cannot typically find in, say, the Valu-Mart.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

In the right neighbourhood, yes I think it is possible to find these things.

[marrythebed.livejournal.com]

You are a fucking god for making Ethiopian food. It would never even occur to me that it is even possible to make Ethiopian food! It seems magical, and only able to be prepared by professional chefs!

Also, I love misir wat! I want to come over and eat everything you make!

I bow down before you and your cooking prowess.

[sabotabby]

The other thing I tried in the past, which was ye'abesha gomen, was a disaster, so I'm not exactly a culinary goddess. But this was easy. I'm hoping misir wat turns out to be similarly easy (the recipe looks dead simple) because it's one of my favourite things.

I ran into the woman who runs the excellent Ethiopian restaurant across the street from me at the Valu-Mart when I was doing my grocery shopping and it was so jarring. Like, she's a phenomenal chef, and here she is at just a regular grocery store? How is this possible? But of course she would because she lives in the area and most food is made from essentially the same things but with better spices.

[marrythebed.livejournal.com]

That's always a good sign!

[rdi.livejournal.com]

This is highly relevant to my interests. Thank you!

[sabotabby]

Any time!

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

I love Ethiopian food, too!

We must go out for it next time I'm down your way!

Too! Many! Exclamation! Marks!!!!

[sabotabby]

Yes! Drop me a line. I live in the neighbourhood of all the great Ethiopian restaurants save two or three that are located in other areas of town.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Will do. No idea when it will be, but will do.

[ironed_orchid]

Want!

[sabotabby]

You should make!

[culpster.livejournal.com]

Amazing!

Yemisir wot is just about impossible to fuck up. Hint: you can HALVE the oil most recipes call for and it's still extraordinarily decadent.

I got everything I know from here, also sometimes I look up a collards recipe and do it with shredded kale:

https://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2014/02/21/how_to_make_an_ethiopian_vegetarian_feast.html

[sabotabby]

Ah yes, I remember that article well.

Shredded kale sounds like a good idea. I love collards but I've never managed to not fuck them up.

[the_axel]

I think I need to validate the quality of your cooking.
And then you need to teach me so that I can make it at home too!

[sabotabby]

There's a truly ludicrous amount of food in my fridge right now, including a whole pumpkin pie. Your aid is required.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Having someone unexpected express interest in one's food culture is such a delight. You made those ladies' day! And were justly rewarded with great food!

[sabotabby]

Hah, good to know. I sometimes feel like a tourist but I am basically a foodie who wants to be able to cook all the things I like.

[mistersmearcase.livejournal.com]

I hate pumpkin but am impressed and inspired to try making maybe miser wot sometime. There are a bunch of places near here where you can get both berebere and injera. (Here is my not that interesting berebere story: I have loved Ethiopian food since college and wanted to try making it but in most of the country, you just could not find berebere. Around 1999 I was going through Phoenix and somehow became aware that there was an Ethiopian grocery, so I drove across town, bought a rather large bag of berebere, and toted it around the country on several moves over the next however many years. I didn't use it a lot because the one time I tried miser wot it didn't come out that well. It did turn out to be GREAT in chili, as I invented Tex-Eth.)

[sabotabby]

Hah, I was thinking of using it in chili too.