Ethiopian butter and injera
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Do you want to try something unique?
Injera is also eaten at most meals, it is made of teff-flour. Let's see how to make it at home!
Contents at a Glance
What is Ethiopian butter?
How is it used?
Ethiopian butter is normal butter from the cow, that has been boiled together with different spices. Preferably it should be boiled slowly over a wood-fire, but few people have time to that nowadays.The butter will last for a long time. Since nobody in the country side has a refrigerator, it goes without saying that they have learned how to preserve food! The butter is used for cooking, for almost all food.
Even though it's an important part of traditional cooking, these days most people cannot afford using butter. They use palm oil or other oils, which are very poor substitutes for butter.
Making butter- a simple recipe
Many ingredients, but easy procedure
- Prep Time: 15-30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour of cooking
Cooking your own butter at home is not difficult at all. You can buy the spice-mixture if you don't feel like preparing it yourself. Make a big batch, and you're fine for a year!
Ingredients
- 1/2 kg butter
- 2 tsp fenugreek
- 1 tsp white cumin
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 2 tsp oregano
- a little turmeric for a nice color
- 1 onion- chopped
- 1/2 head of garlic- chopped
- 2 cm of fresh ginger -grated or chopped
Instructions
The spices are finely ground and boiled with the butter, together with chopped onions and garlic. When it's all come together,and the butter is clear (takes about one hour), leave it to rest for a little while. The residue will settle in the bottom of the pot, and the liquid butter will be on top.
Scoop up the butter with a ladle, or pour it with a jug, and put it in an appropiate container. When preparing butter for people travelling abroad, they often put it in thick plastic bags and freeze the butter. In this way it's easy to transport and stays fresh. Otherwise any container will make do! Often a plastic bucket with lid is used. I prefer freezing it in smaller containers, then take out one when I need it.
The traditional way of storing butter
Butter is not only to add fat, but to bring out the taste of the dishes. It is a flavouring in itself. Well worth trying!
Genfo
Porridge made of barley or oat
- Serves: 4
- Prep Time: None!
- Total Time: 1/2 hour
When a woman gives birth, they prepare a special dish to help her regain her strength.It's a kind of porridge made of barley, very thick. A bit like West-African fufu. In the middle of the dish a small hole is made in the genfo (that's what they call it) and a lot of butter is put there, often mixed with berbere. So you take a little porridge, dip it in the butter and grow strong!
Ingredients
- 5 cups of water
- 3 cups of genfo flour (barley or oat)
- a little salt
Instructions
Bring water to the boil, adding a bit of salt. (Set aside one cup of water for later use.) Add genfo flour and start mixing! It swells a lot, and needs a lot of stirring not to get lumpy. If needed, add some more boiling water. It's quite hard work, might take up to ten minutes!
When it has a smooth consistency, dish it in smaller bowls or one big one. (Smaller ones are better, as everyone can eat his own genfo.) Make a hole in the middle, and put some butter and berbere.(see picture)
Interesting books about Ethiopia
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Sunset in Arba Minch
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Kinche
Barley or Oat
This is crushed kinche (barley), but whole-grain can also be used. If you get it from Ethiopia, make sure to look it through for stones and other undesirable objects! Then boil it in water, I ususally use two parts of water to one part kinche.Instead of salt in the water you might want to use some stock.
After it has been boiled for about twenty minutes. It doesn't have to be completely soft as you will continue the cooking. Melt butter in a sauce-pan, add the kinche and stir until well mixed.
Here I have added boiled, chopped spinach to the kinche. It can be done together with the butter, let the spinach soak up the butter and then mix in the kinche.
Many people like to sprinkle mitmita on top of the dish, it is up to you!
Alternatives
- Use oat-kinche instead of barley, it is easier to digest.
- Fry some chopped onion and garlic in some oil and butter, then add the boiled kinche.
- A pinch of turmeric in the water will give the kinche a beautiful, yellow colour.
- If you have some kinche left-overs it can be mixed with salat, or simply used in the same way as rice- accompanying other food.
Serving
The Gurage tribe in Ethiopia prepare coffee with salt and butter!
Calendar for 2011
My own pictures from Ethiopia
Get kibbeh and spice here.
Hopefully kibbeh will soon be available. Until then, buy the spice and try making it yourself!
If mitmita is finished on amazon, there is always ebay!
Ethiopian chili mixture
Injera
Staple food
Injera looks like a big pan-cake, and is made from teff-flour mixed with water and yeast. The batter is left fermenting for three days and then the injera is fried on a big clay-slab called mitad. In the city most people have electrical mitad, but in the country side they still do it over a wood-fire.Injera is eaten with every meal, many even like it for breakfast. Since a man will eat at least one injera per meal, the preparation of injera is a large part of the work in a house-hold.
Preparing injera
We use a frying-pan!
- Serves: 3 people (about 12 small injeras)
- Prep Time: 3 days+ 1 hour
- Total Time: 1/2-1 hour for frying
Making injera at home is not really difficult. After a couple of times you will get the feel of how to mix the flour, and what consitstency the batter should have. It is well worth trying!
Ingredients
- 3 cups of teff-flour
- 4 cups of water
- 25 g of fresh yeast
Instructions
Mix it all together, there should be no lumps. The batter should be really liquid. Cover it with plastic and leave it to ferment for three days in room temperature.
On the third day, pour away the dark water that has gathered on top of the batter. Add half a cup of boiling hot water, mix and wait. The batter will raise and then go down again! That is the time to start frying the injera.
Let the frying pan get hot, a bit more than medium. Since no oil is used, a non-stick pan is best. With a ladle, put in some batter and wait until it is half-dry on top. Cover the pan and leave it for a minute or two. Put on a towel to cool. Continue with the next one!
When using a frying pan instead of a mitad, one person will eat 3-4 injeras. This recipe serves three people, about 12 injeras.
(Instead of teff you can try using millet flour, which is easier to find in the stores. Does not come out the same, but good enough.)
Step by step
It is not difficult!
Teff flour
First day
In the pan
Drying on a towel, doesn't have to look perfect!
Big basket for keeping injera
Teff is available!
More on Ethiopia
For a complete list - go to My Ethiopian Collection!
Teff
Info from Wikipedia
Teff is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to the northern Ethiopian Highlands of Northeast Africa. It has an attractive nutrition profile, being high in dietary fiber and iron and providing protein and calcium. Some people consider it to have a sour taste. It is similar to millet and quinoa in cooking, but the seed is much smaller, and thus cooks using less fuel.Teff is an important food grain in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it is used to make injera, and less so in India and Australia. It is now raised in the U.S., in Idaho in particular, with experimental plots in Kansas. Because of its small seeds (less than 1 mm diameter), one can hold enough to sow a large area in one hand. This property makes teff particularly suited to a seminomadic lifestyle.
Wikipedia article and picture
Beautiful Ethiopia
Does it sound appealing?
Could you think of trying one of the recipes?
You are welcome to visit my Ethiopian Pantry!
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JaguarJulie May 22, 2012 @ 6:57 pm | delete
- I am always up for trying new things ... especially butter! What is fenugreek? Don't believe I know that ingredient.
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clouda9
Apr 14, 2012 @ 7:04 pm | delete
- My brother and I were just talking about getting together for an African food date...you have encouraged me to give it a go in my kitchen. *Blessed today for it's 10x yum factor ;)
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Tipi
Apr 9, 2012 @ 6:32 pm | delete
- Your Ethiopian butter sure does sound appealing....boiling butter is new to me an a very effective way of preserving and flavoring the butter apparently, I would guess that the wood fire would really add to the flavor as well if someone has the time these days. Anything over a wood fire turns out so good. I love the cultural food experience you give us here and was particularly interested in the Genfo that Ethiopian women eat after giving birth. Absolutely beautifully presented and blessed...*
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Tipi
Apr 9, 2012 @ 6:31 pm | delete
- Your Ethiopian butter sure does sound appealing....boiling butter is new to me an a very effective way of preserving and flavoring the butter apparently, I would guess that the wood fire would really add to the flavor as well if someone has the time these days. Anything over a wood fire turns out so good. I love the cultural food experience you give us here and was particularly interested in the Genfo that Ethiopian women eat after giving birth. Absolutely beautifully presented and blessed...*
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CruiseReady Feb 27, 2012 @ 7:30 am | delete
- I would like to try injera just to see what it would taste like. The Ethiopian butter sounds really interesting, too!
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WriterJanis
Feb 23, 2012 @ 3:00 am | delete
- I love reading your lenses about Ethiopia as I love learning about the country. Another wonderful job done.
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HSSchulte
Feb 15, 2012 @ 5:08 pm | delete
- There's a lot of interesting information here about the Ethopian diet and culture.
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ankaraevdeneve
Jan 9, 2012 @ 2:36 am | delete
- photos are very beautiful
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jwncoexists
Jan 1, 2012 @ 8:16 pm | delete
- Mujjen-the Injera came out great and my children and I had such a wonderful time making it! It took us a few times to get them out of the pan successfully. Thank you for sharing this recipe! We also made a couple of your vegetarian dishes which were delicious! Thanks again!
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Mujjen
Jan 2, 2012 @ 5:00 am | delete
- I am so happy! We also love injera and shiro (the flour made of peas and beans). My little one wants it every week.
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jwncoexists
Dec 24, 2011 @ 2:46 am | delete
- I am attempting to make your Injera recipe! The batter is mixed and I am waiting patiently for it to be ready! I can't wait! I am also trying out some of your other recipes to go with the Injera! We are going to have it on Christmas -- it was a special request from my children. Thank you Mujjen!
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jwncoexists
Dec 24, 2011 @ 6:14 pm | delete
- Mujjen, how long do you wait after adding the boiling water for it to rise and fall?
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MiddleSister
Oct 24, 2011 @ 3:59 am | delete
- Yes. We had an Ethiopian restaurant in our area for about a year, and I was so sad when it closed. Thank you for the recipes.
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fanfreluche Oct 16, 2011 @ 4:06 am | delete
- Another interesting page about Ethiopia food. Blessed!
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jwncoexists
Oct 1, 2011 @ 9:54 am | delete
- Thank you, I've been wanting to know how to make injera for a long time!!! I just bought the teff flour, now I going to your other lens to get some more recipes!!! Thank you!
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