Making Injera

Injera is the food of Ethiopia. Oh, there are other things Ethiopians eat but it is all eaten with injera. 

There's firfir, which is just injera mixed with burburay (the main spice of Ethiopian food). There's 'tibs, tagabino, wat, shuro, kitfo, pasta, etc. All of these foods are eaten by taking a square of injera in your right hand and picking it up to then drop in your mouth using gravity as your main means of food transportation. Or at least, that's how I eat because I haven't fully mastered their scoop method.

Making injera is a rather involved process.

The first step is to mix the injera.

The batter includes tef (the grain that makes the injera flour), yeast, and water.

But then you have to let it sit for a while. After it is all mixed you need to make it. This is the giant injera stove that they use. My landlady, and in extension myself, is very lucky to have an electric stove. Traditional injera stoves are heated with giant, serving platter sized patties of cow crap.

Note: it does not work to make tortillas.

This is me trying to pour the injera.

  

This is what it's supposed to look like.

This is my finished injera.

It still tasted good.

This is what it's supposed to look like.

And then Bayinesh takes it off the stove and starts all over again.

You have to make several dozen in one night if you want to survive the week.