Cooking Injera

There is good injera, not-so-good injera and yucky injera.  I have been told by several Ethiopians that not all injera is created equal.  Theoretically, a food that only requires two ingredients should be easy to make, right?  That’s what I thought.  So, I decided to try it out for myself under the guidance of Emaye and Birtukan.  Of course, once all of the grown-up boys in the family saw that I was trying to make injera, they suddenly became Professor Injeras and gave me lots of tips.  For people who only watch Emaye and Birtukan make injera, they sure thought they were experts!!!

How to Make Injera

Supplies/Ingredients Needed:

• Teff
• Water
• Bucket/Large Bowl
• Injera paddle
• Injera Cooker (electric or fire)
• Ground Cabbage Seed
• Cloth
• Cup with pouring spout
• An Ethiopian Woman

On the evening of Day 1, mix teff and water until it is the consistency of wet concrete (or mashed potatoes).  Cover it and let it sit till the next day.

Day 2 morning, mix in more water till it is about 1/2 the consistency.  Cover and let sit till the next day.

Day 3 morning, pour off the water that is on the top.  It is yucky.  When you are ready to cook the injera, mix in hot (boiled) water until it is the consistency of thin pancake batter.

Now you are ready to cook.

To cook, heat up the injera cooker. 

Sprinkle a little bit of ground cabbage seed on the surface and wipe it with a cloth.  I think you are trying to either grind the flavor in to the surface or fill any miniscule cracks with the seed powder.

  

Using a spouted pouring device, pour the injera batter onto the cooker.  Start on the outside and swirl your way to the middle.  If you suck at this like I do, you can go back and fill in the holes.  Do this SPARINGLY.  Thick injera is yucky.

 

Put the cover on your cooker (metal cover if you have an electric cooker, reed/grass cover if you use a fire).  Wait till the steam dies down coming out the side.

  

Get your injera paddle (don’t know real name).  Lift the edge of the injera and scoot the paddle underneath it.  Transfer it to the top of your injera stack to cool.

Sprinkle the ground cabbage seed again and start over until you have enough injera to feed your family for 2 days.

When you are done, start your next batch of injera mix.

The hardest part for mewas getting the swirl done right.  (OK, I didn’t actually make the injera batter, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once, so I figure I can do it.)

I tried it several times.  I had very wiggly edges and big gaps between the concentric circular swirls.  At the point of giving up, I noticed I WAS NOT WEARING A SCARF!  Hello?  How are you supposed to make injera without wearing a scarf.  I quickly got a scarf on,  (and then later changed the direction of my swirl pouring from counter-clockwise to clockwise) and voila!  More wiggly edged, gapped injera.  But, at least I looked more like an Abesha girl when I was making it.

And, in the end, when your injera turns out bad, then you beg/plead with an Ethiopian woman to make it for you (or order it from an Ethiopian restaurant).