I made zilzil!
(Yup, Ethiopian food again.)
In the spirit of, you know, running with a theme for the entire week, I decided to work the berbere spice blend I threw together a few days ago and rock out with my bad self and $2.50 worth of round steaks which I pre-rubbed with the berbere spices.
I sauteed onions in a tablespoon of canola oil until they were just translucent, then added spices to coat. Sauteed another 30 seconds until well coated, stirring a lot. Removed 90% of the onions from the pan then added the beef strips and cooked them for a good 10-15 minutes, flipping every 5 min or so. I tossed in some more spice blend just for fun, and when I thought the scent was starting to wear off.
After the meat was cooked through, I removed all of the onions and beef from the pan and combined them with the onions I’d removed before. Then I was left with a crusty, spicy, cast iron skillet. Not one to let concentrated flavor go to waste, I threw in some club soda and stirred/scraped the bottom of the pan until most of the crusted-down spices came up. After a few minutes I had a dark brown, tasty sauce reduction which I poured off onto the beef and onions.
Not to be outdone, not even by myself, I made a vague facsimile of injera. I had no teff flour, so I used a mixture of white and whole wheat flours, and added club soda for additional bubbling action. (Recipe here.) I am not crazy about this recipe and will probably try another quick version before I get off my butt and just make some damn teff sourdough starter a few days ahead of when I know I’ll want injera.
So tonight I served up the lentils from Monday, the greens from Tuesday and my approximation which is almost dead-on authentic zilzil, along with pancakes that were super bubbly but not at all injera-like.
The lentils got better after each day in the fridge as leftovers. And this was probably one of the tastiest dinners I’ve had at home in a long time.
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damn you. I am so hungry already and now I’m MORE hungry.
What’s the difference between teff sourdough starter and standard sourdough starter?
The only difference in the starter would be the kind of flour used to make it.
hmm, and what kind is in teff?
Oh, I didn’t explain. Teff is a grain, too, so to make a teff starter you’d use teff flour instead of wheat flour. Same as you could also use rye flour, spelt flour, etc. Different grains.
So, is it true that all Ethiopian food is spicy-hot? I’ve tried it, but usually avoid going to restaurants simply because of the heat in the spices. I’d love to try your version of it… sounds so good!
Diane – no, not all of it is, I don’t think. But then again, I’m a ‘picy fan, so I wouldn’t mind. BUT, I have been to places where I think… Um, more spice would work…
So, I would think that you could go into an Ethiopian resto and ask for it mild…
Cheryl, do you agree?
Noelle´s last blog post..Okay, I slack.