2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Ethiopia, also called the land of honey and bread, is quite rich in hitherto unknown culinary temptations and subtleties. If you ask someone in Africa if they find finger feeding rude or uncomfortable, the answers to both questions will be no. But that's just a small part of the amazing facts about nutrition and the food there.
Until the end of the last century, this country was called Abyssinia, and today it is divided into two countries - Ethiopia and Eritrea. A curious fact about the country is that a skeleton of the most ancient ancestor of our species has been found in the Afar Desert. Its age is estimated at about 4.4 million years.
From there begins the first human migration, which takes us anywhere in the world. However, the terrain of the area - high mountains and plateaus, provides relative protection of the population, thus helping to create their unique culture. The food that is made there is a particularly good example of this.
The basis of Ethiopian cuisine is ingera - a thin and fluffy pancake made from teff flour. The teff cereal is grown only in the highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea. This plant tastes like millet, but its small grains cook much faster. This flour can also be found in our country, but it is very difficult because most traders do not even know its name. If they don't remember what you want when you tell them teff, try the African plant.
The original ingredients of this pancake, in addition to the teff flour, are water, salt to taste and oil to spread on the baking sheet. You probably think that this thing is prepared very quickly, but it is not. Rare dough needs at least 24 hours to ferment. The gas bubbles that form during this process give the injector the specific perforated texture of the pancake during baking.
The roles of the engineer in Ethiopian cuisine are not one, but three. It will be your bread for dinner, but also the plate, because on it the Ethiopians put all the prepared dishes for lunch or dinner. In addition, a piece of this pancake can also be used as a spoon, because with the help of your fingers and the piece it is taken from other dishes on the table. If you like your host and continue to behave politely, even though you are smeared with lentil puree, for example, do not refuse the food served by the host to your mouth, because for Ethiopians it is a sign of sympathy and respect.
Ethiopian food is very diverse / see our gallery /, but can be grouped into several groups. Wat are lean or meat stews, generously flavored with a mixture of Berbera spices. They are at the other end of Ethiopian spiciness alicha - vegetable stews, which usually contain potatoes, carrots, cabbage or kale, as well as ginger. Vegans would feel very good in Ethiopia and Eritrea because over 60% of the population are Orthodox Christians who strictly observe fasts.
In addition to the long fasts before Christmas and Easter, they also include some shorter ones on some days of the week, so they gather for about 250 days without cheese, meat and eggs. Therefore, on the table of these people you can find almost all year round legumes such as dried peas, lentils and beans, which are prepared without a gram of animal fat. The lack of animal fat has been replaced with exotic oils of sesame, saffron and nougat.
Outside of fasting, these oils are replaced with niter kibe, a refined oil similar to Indian ghee. However, Niter kibe is heated with spices such as turmeric, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg before cleaning and filtering.
At the Ethiopian table you will not see how the dishes are served one after the other, because all the dishes are put at once. Also, there are no desserts in Ethiopian cuisine as part of lunch or dinner. This may seem strange to you, because the area produces a lot of quality honey.
Dinner or lunch ends with a cup of aromatic coffee. This drink is deeply associated with Ethiopia because it is believed to be the home of the coffee tree. The coffee drinking ceremony, like the Japanese tea drinking ceremony, is associated with its constant rituals. It starts with roasting green coffee beans. Once they are ready, the beans are crushed in a mortar and poured with hot water from a kettle. The mixture is filtered and served. This ceremony can last for hours and is done three times a day.
Ethiopian cuisine has undergone many developments over the millennia, but has retained some of its very old characteristics. This makes it extremely interesting and that is why the popularity of typical dishes and Ethiopian restaurants is growing every second. In Bulgaria, this popularity is significant, so if you want to try something from Ethiopian cuisine, you have to prepare it yourself.
Recommended:
Estonia - An Unknown But Tasty Destination
We offer you a short trip to an unknown but very culinary country. Estonia is the northernmost of the three Baltic states. It is a flat country on the east coast of the Baltic Sea with many lakes and islands. Estonian is closely related to Finnish, but does not resemble other languages spoken in other Baltic countries.
Culinary Guide: The Unknown Irish Cuisine
The main products present on the Irish table have always been vegetables, potatoes and bacon, and in coastal areas, in addition, salmon, mackerel and cod. Until the early 17th century, meat and fish were smoked to preserve them. Later, the products were stored in the so-called glaciers in the cellars.
Georgia - The Country Of Unknown Culinary Temptations
Georgia is a country in Eastern Europe bordering the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north and east, Turkey and Armenia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the southeast. It covers an area of 69,700 km and has a population of about 5 million people.
The Unknown Fish Seafood: Culinary Subtleties And Recipes
Sole sole is a species that belongs to several families. In general, they are all members of SOLEIDAE, but outside Europe, many other similar flatfish are called Sole. In European gastronomy, a number of species are recognized as true sole languages, but the most commonly used is the common sole Solea Solea.
Armenia - A Must-see Destination For Every Gourmand
The Republic of Armenia is a country in Southwest Asia. It borders Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north. It has common borders with both Azerbaijan to the east and Iran to the south. The capital of the country is Yerevan. Armenian cuisine is one of the oldest cuisines in Asia and certainly the oldest in the Caucasus region.
