By Jim Morgan
Alan’s busy this month, so I’m filling in.
Our March event was a culinary visit to Ethiopia, inspired by our enthusiasm over the recent reopening of Cafe Lalibela in Tempe. Although the event was held at my decidedly nonexotic home, I did my best to create the proper ambiance.
The major challenge was creating the injera, the magical, spongy, sourdough flatbread which the Ethiopians use not only as a food, but also as their only eating utensil and their tablecloth! Real injera is made with a hard-to-find grain called "teff." After studying many recipes and alternatives at the library and on the Web, I created one version made with whole wheat and Janet Fotheringham made another version with buckwheat. Everyone was delighted with the results.
We began the meal with an appetizer prepared by Ray Pisar, yemarina yewotet dabo, honey yeast bread seasoned with coriander, cinnamon and cloves. The bread was accompanied by a yogurt dip flavored with berberé, the Ethiopian cayenne-and-paprika spice mixture which is called by one expert "the pivot of Ethiopian cuisine."
After polishing off the appetizer, we seated ourselves around a low table in my living room, which was lit only by candlelight. As background music, I played a CD, Traditional Ethiopian Music, which I had found at a store called Rasta Tings in Tempe. Diana Toone performed the requisite hand-washing ceremony, pouring warm water from a pitcher over the right hand of each diner (holding a catch-basin underneath), then drying the hand with a small towel.
We then brought out injera-lined platters containing the following dishes: yataklete kilkil, hearty vegetables with garlic and ginger, prepared by Diana Toone; yebeg sega tibs, savory lamb with peppers, onions and niter kebbeh (spiced butter), by Marilyn McDonald; iab, an addictive creamy white cheese flavored with lemon and herbs, by Joice and Chuck Braden; gomen, seasoned collard greens, from Janet Fotheringham and Jim Gaspar; doro wat, a rich berberé-seasoned chicken-and-egg stew, and yemiser w’et, lentil stew, also seasoned with berberé, both by Me; and zilzil alecha, beef strips in a tangy green-pepper sauce, by Syd Golston.
In addition to the injera on the platters, baskets of folded injera were passed around the table. We tore off pieces of it and ate in the traditional manner, picking up the food with the bread and placing it into our mouths, never touching our fingers to the food (other than the bread) or to our lips. This takes practice. Jim Gaspar quipped that we violated the rules so much that we should call a personal-injera lawyer.
Our beverage, in lieu of the traditional tej, Ethiopian honey wine, was Chaucer’s Mead, purchased at the newly opened Whole Foods Market in Tempe. By the way, this stuff is very tasty. Two bottles of it vanished very quickly.
For dessert, we had wonderful baklava, prepared by Joice and Chuck Braden.
Our April event, since our coordinators are temporarily indisposed, will be a dineout: a paella and aioli feast on Saturday, April 11, at the new Rincón Español restaurant in Scottsdale. (Paella is wonderful saffron rice with seafood, sausage, and chicken; aioli is an irresistible garlic dip served with crusty bread. Alternative dishes will be available.) Please call me, Jim Morgan, at 831-2170, by Thursday, April 9, for details and to place your reservations.