I have some good news, friends: I made it to round 2 of Project Food Blog! Thanks to everyone who voted! I really appreciate your support.
For Challenge #2: The Classics, the assignment was to make a classic dish from another culture. I’d been thinking about what I was going to make for a week or so, and I thought I had it all figured out. Plan A was to make Indian food – naan and paneer, specifically. I love Indian food, and I especially love making bread and cheese, so it seemed like the perfect plan. I was really excited to get into the kitchen and get to work, but then I read the description of the challenge a little more closely and realized that we were supposed to go outside of our comfort zone. Bread and cheese are well within my comfort zone, both in terms of cooking and eating, so in keeping with the purpose of the challenge, I moved on to Plan B.
I started Plan B by thumbing through a few cookbooks - a Czech one, an Austrian one, and Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient by Jennifer McLagan - in search of interesting recipes. Nothing really jumped out at me in the first two books, but when I saw a recipe for Spiced Ethiopian Butter in the third, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. It’s been a few years since I ate my first Ethiopian meal at a little restaurant in Boulder, and even though I loved it, I haven’t eaten Ethiopian food since. I was looking forward to experiencing the cuisine a second time as well as cooking something a little out of the ordinary.
There was a recipe in Fat cookbook for a lamb dish using the spiced butter, and in sticking with my love for making all things bread-like I scoured the internet for an injera recipe. The menu was set: spiced butter, lamb, and injera. I was ready to tackle Challenge #2.
I’m confident that Plan A would have been a fun day in the kitchen. Plan B, on the other hand, was a fun afternoon in the kitchen turned a challenge turned a disaster. Aside from the butter, which was absolutely amazing (I wish you guys could smell the stuff), the meal was pretty much a complete loss. The lamb was tender and certainly edible, but the flavor was not something that made you want to go back for another bite. The injera was brittle and cracking, yet gooey and sticky. It was far from the soft crepe-like rolls I remember eating in Boulder, and it tasted exactly like Wheat Chex. Just the flavor you want alongside lamb and pumpkin, right?
The biggest lesson that I learned from this challenge was that contrary to the theory behind the title of my blog, there are meals that cannot be saved by cheese sauce or chocolate sauce. Another lesson: when you don’t eat much of your dinner, you will have plenty of room for a hot fudge sundae from Dairy Queen – extra peanuts and all.
Ethiopian Spiced Butter
Clockwise from top right: cinnamon sticks, garlic, clove, cardamom pods, oregano, turmeric, ginger, shallot
Melting butter
Melted butter + spices
Simmering and foaming
Clearing up
Cooling down
Straining
Cooling the butter
Injera
Water + teff flour
Making injera batter
The batter before resting
Several hours later
Attempt #1
Too much oil? Not enough batter?
Not enough heat? Too much heat? Batter too thin? I have no idea.
Attempt #2
Dry on top…
…and gummy underneath. I had stopped oiling the pan at this point, so I don’t understand how the top could look so dry while the bottom was still basically raw.
This was the closest to a keeper that I had. I think I cooked this one a lot longer than the rest, but there are still gummy areas.
Yikes! A few of the recipes that I found suggested using part teff flour and part all-purpose flour, so maybe I’ll try using a combination of the two next time. Next time will not be anytime soon, in case you were wondering.
Frustrating.
Cape Malay-Style Lamb Shoulder
Tamarind pods
So cool! I’ve always wondered what they were like when I’ve passed by them at Whole Foods.
Tamarind insides
Inside tamarind insides
The texture of the outer layer of the inside reminds me of dates.
Soaking the tamarind pulp in boiling water
Chopped serranos and sliced onions
Browning lamb in the spiced butter
Lamb + onions + serranos
Spices + purée of tamarind pulp, water, and brown sugar ready to be added to the lamb mixture
The mixture before an hour of simmering
And after
Adding pumpkin
The finished dish
Served over brown rice and garnished with cilantro
The Aftermath
When your dinner doesn’t work out as planned, play with your food. Then eat ice cream.
Turkey baster + turkey gobbler
Roast beef, anyone?
Rat tail
Going for the Mr. Miyagi look
‘Stache
Not laughing is vital to keeping injera stuck to your face.
Not breathing = not laughing
Bunny
My favorite
Has anyone had better luck making injera? Have any good Ethiopian recipes worth sharing? Anyone interested in the butter recipe?
I don’t know whether to laugh, cry or applaud you for your honesty. I think you deserve them all! I really enjoyed your entry. Good luck!
You and me both! I lost track of the number of times that I considered either crying, reaching for the nearest bottle of wine, or ordering pizza. In the end there was a lot of laughing and a big hot fudge sundae, and all’s well that ends well, right?
I remember the injera from the Boulder restaurant and it did look different than yours but are you absolutely sure a nice thick, yet creamy, cheese sauce wouldn’t have improved it?!? We all have the occasional “less than amazing” culinary outcomes and I think your way of coping was way better than crying!
I just laughed my butt off reading this! Good try. we all have kitchen disasters! Love the photo Session with Matt! Hilarious!
I made injera actually! I think it needs to ferment longer in order to create enough gluten. Also putting the cover on the pan creates some steam to cook the top. If you try to remove it too early it will stick.
The lamb looks yummy. I will have to try that next time.
Thanks for the tips! Knowing exactly where I went wrong makes me feel better about trying again. Maybe I’ll have to give it another shot sooner rather than later.
I adore your blog. I don’t do much cooking anymore since I’m in college now and my diet consists mostly of… well you know, college food. You inspire me to get back in the kitchen!
Thanks, Hanna! Hope you can get back in the kitchen soon.
Hahaaaa! I feel your pain! Loved the post and really appreciate your attempt…keep er going! Did the spice butter fill your place with joyous aromas too!?
The spiced butter was amazing! I couldn’t stop smelling the jar of it – so good.
P.S. you need to post your widget!!
It is a frustrating feeling when you can’t seem to get a recipe right, isn’t it? I applaud your efforts for trying it twice!
I voted for you – good luck!
Thanks, Crystal! It was definitely frustrating, but we had fun with it in the end.
My mother dated an Ethiopian for 10+ years and I love Ethiopian food! Kudos to you for trying such a difficult bread! I’ve always wanted to make it myself but its so intimidating. I think like it was commented above that the batter has to sit for awhile, maybe overnight? Injera was always reminiscent to a sourdough taste to me so maybe it needs that kind of TLC? Love this post though and voted
Goodluck!
Thanks, Adrianne. I think not letting it sit for long enough was definitely an issue. Some of the recipes I found called for a sourdough starter, so I’ll have to remember that for the next time.
We’ve tried injera twice (both times with part wheat, part teff), with similarly disappointing results. We do have a good Ethiopian restaurant here in St. Louis — maybe they’ll share their secrets. I would love to know if you figure anything out.
I’ll let you know if I have a more successful attempt. From reading some of the other comments it looks like I didn’t let the batter rest for long enough. I plan to do a little more reading about it and checking out more recipes before trying to make it again.
Ha =], this post was one big smile fest, for me, I know you probably didn’t feel that way at the time though. Injera is my absolute favorite kind of bread and I have never even thought of attempting it before. It seems so wickedly complicated that it just registered on my “You can’t do that” radar. I just buy it in bulk from my local African restaurant. But all the fun you had playing with it’s remnants makes me want to try. Because trying and failing is better than never trying at all. I love seeing people try new things and at least the butter worked! Imagine the toast you could have with that! Brilliant job!
It must be nice to have a local source! Maybe I’ll scope out some of the Ethiopian restaurants in Minneapolis before trying to make it again. All in the name of research.
I pick it up from Cub on University in St. Paul… pretty good! You rock a decent ‘stache though, so it wasn’t a total bust.
I was sad to learn you didn’t advance in Project Food Blog – I hope it wasn’t because you didn’t manage to get one of the recipes right! Failure is just a part of learning. I was hoping to see you in the future challenges!
Way to go for trying such a hard recipe! I love Ethiopian food, but I have never even thought about attempting injera. If it makes you feel any better, your injera batter looks great and has me seriously craving some chocolate milk!
I’m a little late to this party, but I made Injera once with half teff flour, half regular, and instead of water I used club soda. It turned out pretty well. Also, I used a cast iron pan that has basically become non-stick with very little oil, and only cooked one side until the top looked like it had set.