Ethiopian takes on American favorites: Spaghetti and salad

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 with lime.

Ethiopian Salad

Ingredients

2 tomatos, sliced thinly
1 jalapeño pepper, sliced thinly (with seeds)
1 small onion, sliced thinly
1 lime, sliced thinly
1 lime, halved

Arrange cut vegetables in layers on a plate in a pretty way. Sprinkle with a little coarsely ground salt. Top with the thinly sliced lime. Squeeze the juice from the halved lime, discarding seeds, and drizzle the lime juice over the entire salad. our kids like this salad because they can choose which parts of the salad to take.

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After looking askance at my tomato-rich American-style spaghetti sauce, the girls asked for a little pot and showed me their version of spaghetti sauce.

Ethiopian Spaghetti Sauce

1 onion, pureed in food processor
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 T. berbere (or more to taste)
2 cloves garlic
1 tomato, pureed in food processor (not with onion)
Salt to taste

Cook the onion dry in a hot skillet until liquid evaporates and onion starts to brown a bit. Add oil, berbere, and garlic. Cook a couple minutes. Add tomato and salt to taste. Cook for a few more minutes. Serve alongside pasta. My Ethio kids like this very spicy. You may want to cut back on the berbere a bit if you do not like things very spicy.

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