In puzzling over my berbere dilemma, I remembered all the red peppers that my husband had grown in our garden and picked just before the frost. After googling hot peppers, we identified ours as Anaheims, haberneros, and some incredibly potent Tabasco peppers. The Tabascos are almost hot enough to make pepper spray, according to the Scofield scale. One nibble off a Tabasco sent my 12 year old Ethiopian daughter into a coughing fit and caused my 5 year old (tricked into a nibble by an older sibling) to burst out wailing.

After soothing my poor 5 year old with a glass of milk and an invalid's pillow on the... more

For a few weeks now I've been sadly watching our berbere run out. Before our older girls came home, I'd sprinkle a tablespoon or so at most in a recipe. These days our girls use it 1/4 of a cup at a time, so it's running out a lot quicker than before. Awhile back Amazon.com sold berbere for $8 a pound, but when I clicked that link, it was no longer available. I've been hunting around hoping to find a good price, but all I could find was berbere that costs $10-$15 per pound. After paying a dollar or two a pound in Ethiopia, my frugal self was balking big-time.

Finally last week as we shook the dregs out of our berbere canister, I conceded defeat and bought some online at the cheapest... more

Here's a nice vegetarian dish that is affordable and easy to make. You can make it with either yellow or green split peas. I ate something like this at the Queen of Sheba restaurant in Portland, and made my own variation of it at home. Then when our girls came home from Ethiopia, they made yet another variation.

Atar Alecha: Spicy split peas

Ingredients

1 onion, pureed in food processor 2 garlic cloves, finely minced or mashed through a garlic press (And just in case you are in the market for a garlic press, I love my Zyliss!)... more

Today a friend of mine asked me for my shiro recipe. I blogged a friend's recipe awhile back. It is quite good, but my girls have taught me a bit more streamlined version that I thought some other people might be interested in trying. With the help of my food processor, I can whip this recipe out in 15 minutes. It also reheats well in the microwave for those of you trying to keep comfort food handy for newly arrived kids.

Shiro

2 medium onions 1 tomato 1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup shiro powder water (1-1/2 to 2 cups) lots of berbere

Start by pureeing the onions... more

We have about a dozen pumpkins all turning a lovely shade of orange in the garden right now. I've made pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pie filling. But we still have a ton of pumpkins. So when my 12 year old mentioned an Ethiopian recipe for pumpkin stew, I was all attention. She didn't know exactly how it was made, and so I worked from her general instructions rather than from exact amounts. But the recipe turned out to be really delicious, and she told me it tasted right. So I thought you might enjoy hearing what I did.

Pumpkin Wat

--Start by chopping up part of a pumpkin,... more

I've served both spaghetti and salad a few times since the girls got home, but they did not seem especially happy with either time. I didn't make a big deal about it (see my food policy), but I wondered how I could tweak the recipes to be a little more familiar to the girls.

As it turns out, the girls clued me in on both issues. The other day we were out shopping and our girls spotted a bag of tiny key limes. "Like Ethiopia!" they exclaimed. They went on to explain that in Ethiopia, along with often eating the limes whole, dipped in salt or sugar, they also made a kind of salad that is drizzled... more

One ingredient you will find mentioned in many recipes for authentic Ethiopian food is niter kibbeh, or clarified spiced butter. In general, niter kibbeh as part of the fat in meat dishes, and oil is used in vegetarian dishes. (Yes, Ethiopian dishes all seem to require a lot of fat!)

Since I have not gotten into the habit of keeping niter kibbeh on hand, I usually use oil along with a tablespoon or two of butter in most of my meat dishes. But here is a recipe that I used last time I got inspired to make actual niter kibbeh. This recipe will keep for months in the refrigerator, covered.

INGREDIENTS - 1 lb. butter, cut into pieces - 2 cloves... more

Once you've got a good starter and have completed a couple days of prep, your injera is finally ready to cook. You can cook your injera in a large skillet or a pancake griddle. But one of the things that I did after our girls came home was to spring for a mitad. The one I got is actually called a Heritage Grill ... more

Once you have your starter going, you're ready to do the final steps before making injera. I usually save about 2 cups of starter in a quart jar in the fridge in between batches of injera. A couple days before I want to make injera, I take my starter out of the fridge, drain off the liquid, then pour the starter into a big bowl. I then add two cups of lukewarm water, and stir well.

At this point I begin to add flour. You can use all teff flour (this will convert your wheat starter... more

The first step of making injera is to get your ‘starter’ going. If you’ve ever made sourdough bread or pancakes, it’s the same basic idea. Once you have a ‘starter’, you just save a little of the batter at the end of making each batch of injera and use it again to get the next batch going properly.

There are lots of ways to get your initial starter going. Some people use fruit in cheesecloth. Others use chopped up potatoes to encourage the yeasty bacteria to grow in the flour and water mix. I went the easy route and just used yeast.

To start with, I used about 2 cups of lukewarm water... more