|
Ethiopian
meals offer finger-licking delights
June 15, 2006
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
In
some restaurants, it’s OK to share a plate of food and
eat with your fingers.
It’s the tradition you’ll experience when you
go out for Ethiopian food, where meals are served on a communal
platter and food is scooped up with bits of injera, a delicious,
spongy, flat bread unlike anything you’ve ever before
eaten.
It’s just one of many features of this East African
cuisine that is so unique and wonderful.
And like many of the world’s food traditions, Ethiopian
food also includes tastes and aromas we don’t typically
encounter in fast food or family chain restaurants. But if
you’re willing to venture out of your comfort zone and
try something new, you’ll find in Ethiopian foods some
of the best-tasting and healthful foods you’ll ever
eat.
It all starts with the injera.
Injera bread looks like a huge, round, thin, grey-brown crepe.
The flavor is distinct but mild – the main ingredient
in the bread is teff, an ancient grain – with a slightly
sour taste similar to buckwheat. The injera serves as both
plate and utensil.
Here’s what I mean:
When you go out to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant, you’ll
be seated at a small, round wicker table. Everyone orders
their food, and a large round tray – as big or bigger
than a large pizza pan – is brought out and placed on
the table. The tray – big enough that it looks like
the tabletop – is covered with a giant piece of injera.
Food is brought out in bowls, but servers scoop it out of
the bowls and place individual servings directly on top of
the injera.
When the server is finished, the injera is covered with small
scoops of food, with individual servings placed in front of
each guest at the table.
Also in front of each guest is another piece of injera, soft
and pliable, folded into quarters like a napkin. That’s
your spoon.
You eat by ripping off small pieces of injera, then pinching
or grabbing bite-sized bits of food from the tray. When your
personal piece of injera is gone, you can dig into the injera
on the tray, tearing it and rolling it up into bite-sized
pieces.
Injera by itself is a wholesome food, a whole grain source
of vitamins and minerals low in saturated fat and cholesterol
and free of trans fat. So what’s the food like that
you eat with it?
Ethiopian dishes include a variety of meats, but the healthiest
choices are vegetarian dishes traditionally served during
Christian and Muslim fasting days when meats and dairy products
are avoided. These are the foods you want to order: a variety
of thick stews and other foods made with various colored lentils,
chick peas, potatoes, carrots, green beans and other vegetables.
Foods are seasoned with red pepper, onions, garlic, ginger
and other herbs and spices.
As you might guess, you take your time and don’t rush
when you eat at an Ethiopian restaurant. Consider finishing
your meal with a cup of coffee, Ethiopia’s leading commodity.
(Ask about whether coffee ceremonies are available for a future
visit).
Now for the catch: There are too few Ethiopian restaurants
around, unless you live in a big city like New York or Washington,
D.C. In North Carolina, we’re fortunate to have a few.
In Raleigh, visit Abyssinia at 2109 Avent Ferry Road. In Chapel
Hill, eat at Queen of Sheba’s at 115 North Graham Street.
In Charlotte: Red Sea at 206 East Independence Blvd.
Remember: If finding healthy foods is a challenge, you might
be looking in the wrong places. Seek out ethnic restaurants
and open up a whole new world of opportunities for good, and
delicious, food.
|
