Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine use a similar name for their staple dishes.
If you’re going to be a citizen of the world and eat like one, it’s helpful to know your way around Ethiopian food. Ethiopians have been eating injera since prehistoric times, and Eritreans have their own version using different spices called tibs or kibs. Injera is an enzyme-rich sourdough flatbread made from teff flour (a tiny, round grain with more than one kind of fiber). Teff can help nourish your gut microbiome, but both countries also use berbere—a signature spice blend—to flavor their dishes.
Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine have similar names for their main dishes. In the case of Ethiopian, this is wat; in that of Eritrean, it’s tsebhi (pronounced like “dribble”). Both are made with a base of injera, an Ethiopian sourdough pancake or crepe-like bread that’s also used as an edible utensil. The wat dish is based on berbere (a spice blend), while the tsebhi version contains berberé (“spice”).
Both cuisines are based on teff, a tiny grain that can be ground into flour and made into porridge or pancakes—its most common use is to thicken stewed dishes. Both cuisines also feature a lot of lamb; other ingredients include collard greens and cabbage as well as lentils and chickpeas.
Injera is the national dish of Ethiopia and it’s a sourdough flatbread made from teff flour. Teff is a tiny, round grain that grows in small clusters on top of large grasses. It originated in Ethiopia and has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years. The grains are naturally gluten free, so if you’re sensitive to gluten or have celiac disease, you might want to look into trying injera as an alternative to wheat-based breads.
Teff has more than one kind of fiber—resistant starch and prebiotic fiber—which can help nourish your gut microbiome when eaten regularly. Resistant starch is found in foods like legumes; prebiotic fiber supports healthy bacteria growth by providing food for them to consume! They’ve been shown to improve digestion, reduce risk of heart disease and diabetes (among other things), so they’re worth getting into your diet if you haven’t already started doing so!
Ethiopians have been eating injera since prehistoric times.
Injera is the staple of Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. It’s made from teff flour, a type of grain that grows in the highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The flour is fermented and then baked into pancakes called injera, which are about 2 inches thick. They’re also known as sourdough flatbreads or sponge breads because they’re fermented using yeast starter culture, similar to baking sourdough bread.
Injera has been used for thousands of years in Ethiopia and Eritrea—it’s even mentioned in ancient religious texts! The dough itself is made up mostly of teff flour with additional ingredients such as water and salt added to give it flavor; some recipes will also call for some wheat flour or barley flour instead since they aren’t gluten-free like teff. Once you mix your batter together, it needs time to ferment before being cooked into flatbreads (this usually takes anywhere between 12-24 hours depending on how warm/cold your kitchen is). Then all you need to do is heat them up before serving at room temperature so they stay soft enough for scooping up food but not too hot that they melt all over everything else on your plate when touched!
Ethiopians and Eritreans in the diaspora need to import teff to make injera because of a lack of infrastructure available to them at home.
Barley is a common substitute for teff in Ethiopia, but it is not the same. Barley is much bigger and has a coarser texture, which makes it harder to make injera. The amount of barley needed to make injera is much greater than that of teff. Injera made with barley will also lack the nutritional value found in authentic Ethiopian injera made with teff.
The diaspora’s need for imported teff creates logistical challenges: how do you transport this tiny grain from Ethiopia or Eritrea all the way to Europe or North America? Some people have tried using frozen unprocessed teff (the raw grain), but this can be difficult because raw grains don’t keep well in storage (they spoil).
Teff is a tiny, round grain that’s naturally gluten free and has more than one kind of fiber.
Teff is a gluten-free grain that’s high in fiber and protein, and it’s also naturally rich in iron and calcium. In addition to those benefits, teff contains vitamin B6, magnesium, potassium and zinc. These nutrients help your body fight against infection and disease.
Teff is a great source of fiber. Fiber is what helps to keep your gut microbiome healthy and happy, so it’s a win-win situation when you’re eating teff. This grain contains both soluble and insoluble fiber, which means that it can be digested by both your body and the micr ms in your gut. That’s important because different types of bacteria thrive on different types of fiber—and an imbalance in that system can lead to havoc on our health, especially when we’re feeling under the weather or have an illness like IBD (irritable bowel syndrome).
Prebiotics are another reason why teff is good for us: they nourish our microflora with prebiotic foods, which feed these probiotic cultures and help them thrive while also preventing harmful pathogens from taking hold. They do this by providing fuel—specifically short-chain fatty acids like butyrate—in order for probiotics to live their lives properly within our intestines.
Berbere is the signature spice blend of Ethiopian and Eritrean food.
Berbere is the signature spice blend of Ethiopian and Eritrean food. It’s a combination of chili peppers, cumin, fenugreek, cardamom and other spices such as black pepper and ginger. The heat can be mild, medium or hot depending on the type of berbere you buy (I like hot). The spice blend is also used in other dishes such as stews and soups.
Berbere has a wide range of spices in it, and usually some sort of fat like oil or butter.
Berbere is a spice blend that has a wide range of spices in it, and usually some sort of fat like oil or butter. The fat (which can be clarified or unclarified) is added to the berbere in order to help distribute the heat evenly through the dish.
The type of heat you choose for your berbere can alter the flavor profile.
The type of heat you choose for your berbere can alter the flavor profile. If you prefer more spice, go with hot berbere. It has a stronger bite to it and can be used in recipes that call for milder varieties. Conversely, mild berbere is perfect when you’re looking to add subtle hints of heat to a dish without overpowering its overall taste.
You may want to play around with both varieties until you find one that suits your tastes!
Both Ethiopia and Eritrea have distinctive cuisines based on injera and berbere
The most notable aspect of Ethiopian cuisine is injera, a sourdough flatbread made from teff flour (a grain native to Ethiopia). It’s used as both a utensil and a plate for eating other foods, like meat or vegetables. The berbere spice blend is also found in many dishes; this is usually made with peppers, garlic, ginger and salt but also includes chili powder.
Injera: Made from teff flour mixed with water and allowed to ferment overnight before being cooked on an open flame or electric hot plate.
Berbere: A spice blend that varies by region with some common ingredients including chili pepper seeds, cumin seed, fenugreek seed, cardamom pods, coriander seeds and salt
Next time you’re in an Ethiopian restaurant, try some of these dishes. You’ll love the flavor profiles and the ways they are prepared to make them unique. And if you can’t get enough berbere or injera, remember that it’s easy to make at home with teff flour!