Recipe ingredients and directions:
Ethiopian Flat Bread (Injera) — makes 15-20 12-inchi injera
3 cups self-rising flour (750 ml)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (125 ml)
1/2 cup cornmeal or masa harina (125 ml)
1 T active dry yeast (one package) (15 ml)
3 1/2 cups warm water (875 ml)
Let set in large bowl, covered, an hour or longer, until batter
rises and becomes stretchy. It can sit as long as 3-6 hours. When
ready, stir batter if liquid has settled on bottom. Then whip in
blender, 2 cups of batter at a time, thinning it with 1/2 – 3/4
cup water. Batter will be quite thin.
Cook in non-stick frypan WITHOUT OIL over medium or medium-high
heat. Use 1/2 cup batter per injera for a 12-inchpan or 1/3 cup
batter for a 10-inch pan.
Pour batter in heated pan and quickly swirl pan to spread batter
as thin as possible. Batter should be no thicker than 1/8-inch.
Do not turn over.
Injera does not easily stick or burn. It is cooked through when
bubbles appear all over the top. Lay each injera on a clean towel
for a minute or two, then stack in covered dish to keep warm.
Finished injera will be thicker than a crepe, but thinner than a
pancake.
To serve, overlap a few injera on a platter and place stews on top
(I think most kinds of spicy bean or veggie stews/curries would be
great with this. For Ethiopian food, the spicier the better). Or
lay one injera on each dinner plate, and ladle stew servings on
top. Give each person three or more injera, rolled up or folded
in quarters, to use for scooping up the stews.
For a more authentic injera, add 1/2 cup teff flour (teff is a kind
of millet) and reduce the whole wheat flour to 1/4 cup.
Injera, a spongy crepe-like bread (slightly sour), is almost always
eaten with Ethiopian stews. If you’ve been to an Ethiopian
restaurant, they probably used the injera as both plate and utensils.
The injera are layered on a round table and the stews are piled on
top — then more injera are used to scoop up and eat the stew.
And of course once the stew is gone the injera underneath it are
suffused with all the yummy juices. It takes a while to cook up
each injera but it’s really easy.
Category: African Recipes
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