Food Ramblings

Many people have asked us what we eat here. Truthfully, we eat amazingly well. Ethiopian food is interesting and flavorful. We’re really enjoying exploring all of Ethiopia’s culinary options when we eat out. Typical Ethiopian food consists of injera (a sourdough pancake), with wats (sauce made of lentils, beans, vegetables, or meat). The wat is served piled on the injera and it is eaten by breaking off pieces of the pancake with your fingers and scooping up the sauce. Usually, everyone is served off of one large platter which they share. Ethiopians eat injera pretty much every day… for every meal. For us at home, sometimes we opt for more western-style cooking…

In our kitchen, we have a stove and oven which is fueled with a propane tank. We have a pantry stocked with staples (flour, sugar, herbs, baking powder, salt, pepper, oats, beans, rice, pasta, powdered milk etc). Our most consistent source of food is our local market which runs twice a week—on Thursday and Sunday. Our market shopping list is not particularly varied, but it provides us with a consistent source of fresh items.

Market shopping list: eggs, beans, bananas, oranges (very sour), tomatoes (if we’re lucky), avocado (if we’re very lucky), pumpkin, onions, garlic, ginger, potatoes, carrots, and beets. Occasionally, we buy a chicken at the market or a kilo of beef or sheep at the local butcher. We also have a number of fruit trees on our property—papaya, lime, avocado, and passion fruit (if it doesn’t get eaten by the monkeys).

When we travel to the capital every two months, we pick up additional items to supplement our pantry including canned goods (beans, corn, veggies, fruit, tomatoes), chips, cheese, peanut butter, lettuce, and other fresh veggies.

With all of these ingredients combined, we have lots of great cooking options… and lots of time in the kitchen to experiment. Some of our meals have been extremely successful (i.e. stuffed eggplant a la SK), and others have been a complete failure (i.e. pudding… I have no idea why it was so runny…maybe the altitude?). But one can only come up with so many recipes using carrots, potatoes, and onions before hitting a wall. This is why we are asking all of you cooks out there… please send us recipes!!! Extra brownie points if the recipe includes multiple ingredients from our market list… a bazillion brownie points if it ONLY includes items from the market list. Mmmmm speaking of brownies… it’s off to the kitchen—some lovely mom/mother-in-law just sent us an awesome package full of yummy items to add to our pantry!

Disclaimer—the lovely hersey kisses in the picture were not purchased in Ethiopia… they were carried into the country in some clever girl’s luggage.