Ethiopian Cuisine

Ethiopia is an ancient country East Africa, with a history that stretches back millennia. It has a unique and varied cuisine with a strong emphasis on spices. Although an invitation to an Ethiopian home is the best introduction to the society and cuisine, there are Ethiopian restaurants scattered throughout the United States and other parts of the world.

Dining Customs

Ethiopian meals are typically served on a large platter around which guests and family gather. If there are many diners, multiple plates are used. Traditionally, a large table-shaped basket was used, and these can still be seen, mostly in restaurants. The platter is lined with large pieces of a flat, pancake-like bread called "injera", which is made from an Ethiopian grain called "teff". Piles of various food items are placed around the platter with rolled up pieces of injera.

Ethiopians do not use eating utensils. Pieces of the injera are torn off with the fingers of the right hand and used to scoop up and slightly compact the food. This can be a bit tricky for those unused to Ethiopian manners, but Ethiopians are aware of this, and are often actually surprised when a foreigner manages to eat properly. It is considered rude to use the left hand at the table. Eat only the food closest to you: don't reach across the platter to snag some delicacy that is sitting in front of someone else.

Ethiopians are wonderful hosts, and will sometimes be quite insistent that their guests take seconds and thirds and beyond. You might be asked several times to partake of more than you really want to. Politeness and concern for others are an integral part of the culture. You sometimes have to repeat that you are completely full and could not possibly eat more.

Ethiopian Dishes

Most Ethiopian dishes are based on "berbere", powdered hot red pepper that also contains a variety of other spices. Spiced, clarified butter is also commonly used, as are a variety of other spices. Usually several dishes are served at a meal, and Injera is always included. Stew or "wat" dishes are the mainstay of Ethiopian cuisine. They can be meat, grain or vegetable based, and are usually highly spiced, but not always hot. Perhaps because Orthodox Christian Ethiopians traditionally eat vegetarian food twice a week, the cuisine has developed a large variety of complex vegetarian dishes. The following are some of the most common Ethiopian dishes:

Meat Dishes

Doro Wat - Chicken Stew

A popular Ethiopian dish, Doro Wat consists of chicken stewed in a red hot pepper sauce. The chicken is cooked until it is quite tender and served with the bones in. Hard-boiled eggs are included in the stew, pierced before cooking so that they absorb some of the sauce.

Siga Wat - Beef Stew

Beef stew in hot red pepper sauce. The beef is cut into small pieces and stewed until tender.

Beg Wat - Lamb Stew

Lamb stew in hot red pepper sauce. The lamb is cut into chunks, sometimes with the bone in.

Kitfo - Raw Beef

Raw, finely chopped spiced beef.

Vegetable Dishes

Gomen Wat - Collard Greens

Boiled collard greens with garlic, onions and sometimes, ginger.

Misser Wot - Lentil Stew

Lentils, usually cooked in hot pepper sauce. This dish ranges from hot to very hot. Lentils are cooked until they are quite soft and blend slightly with the sauce.

Shiro Wot - Split Pea Stew

A stew made from toasted and ground split peas.

Dessert

Ethiopians do not as a rule eat dessert, although restaurants sometimes offer them as a boon to their non-Ethiopian guests.

Drinks

Tela - Traditional Beer

Unfiltered beer, often homemade. Beer in bottles is called "bira".

Tej - Honey-Wine

A Sweet honey-wine. It is often homemade and is of varying strengths, ranging from the very sweet and almost non-alcoholic "birz", to the stronger and less sweet true tej. It is available in bottles, but the taste does not match that served at home by an expert tej-maker.

Coffee

Coffee originated in Ethiopia and drinking coffee involves its own ceremony. Ethiopians hand roast their coffee, often bringing out a pan of sizzling beans so that their guests can smell the aroma. The coffee is then ground and boiled in a clay pot called a "jebena". The hostess will sit on stool in front of a low table and light chunks of incense, often myrrh. The coffee pot is left to rest until the grinds settle to the bottom. It is then poured into tiny cups and served with sugar. The hostess will make a second pot using the same grinds and the process will be repeated. Sometimes a third pot will be made. Coffee is served at any time during the day and almost always after meals.

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