Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Ethiopian Food.....

For tonite's meal, I made Ethiopian food. I "heart" Ethiopian food and since it is pricy to dine out for such a meal, a long time ago I opted to attempt to make my own. I found the recipes in the cookbook zine Papa Tofu. It is written by KitteeKake who is an awesome vegan from New Orleans. For the meal I made Yemiser W'et which is lentils in a spicy red sauce, Gomen aka collard greens, and some Ethiopian spiced potatoes. I estimated the meal to cost around $17.00. Pretty good for feeding 8 adults. And you couldn't feed 8 adults for that cheap at the local Ethiopian restaurant. All the veggies used were organic and the tomatoes were free since they came from our Fall garden. We were fortunate enough to produce an arse load of beefsteak tomatoes. I hope everyone enjoyed the meal.

A quick comment about Claire's meal. We loved it and I especially loved the fact that Arthur our broccoli hater ate a whole serving of the main dish without a fuss. Normally when he eats broccoli he gags and then immediately spits it out as if I had served him a forkful of poop. So, we thank you Claire. And I will definitely be making the dish again. Josh loved it too and was happy to see that there were leftovers. The baked apples were delightful. My boys inhaled one in a few minutes and asked for more. I need to make a dessert one of these nights. You ladies have baked some lovely fruit and I feel like a schmuck for not contributing.

My two cents on Monday night's soup. It was so good. Very warm and comforting. I spoke of this soup to a fellow vegan and he wanted the recipe which I will gladly share. It is another dish that I will make in the future as well. And the salad was tasty. Josh said the yellow tomatoes tasted like candy and he could not get enough. He liked them so much that there was none for my salad. Tomato-stealer! And the croutons with EVOO was boss. Thanks Sunni for warming my soul with the soup.


I am looking forward to Karen's soup tomorrow night. I am definitely benefitting from her using my VWAV cookbook. Last week's tofu was great. I was so happy to come home to it after walking the pedestrian bridge in the cold during the First Night festival.

This dinner co-op is genius. I am so lucky to have such wonderful people cook for my family. Thanks ladies. Hope you have a lovely week.

2 comments:

  1. Krys,

    I have to know how you made the greens. They were so amazing!

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  2. I sauteed the greens in Niter Kibbeh. It is an Ethiopian spiced butter or in my case vegan margarine. I love Niter Kibbeh, it is so good sauteed with veggies.

    Niter Kibbeh
    1 pound soy margarine
    4 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
    1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped or pressed
    2 teaspoons fresh ginger, scraped and finely grated or minced
    1/2 teaspoon turmeric
    4 green cardamom pods, crushed
    1 cinnamon stick
    3 whole cloves
    1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

    What You Do:
    Slowly melt the margarine in a medium-sized saucepan over low heat. Add the other ingredients and simmer uncovered on the lowest heat for about 20-30 minutes. Do not let it brown. Strain the mixture through a double layer of cheesecloth or other such concoction, discarding the spices. Refrigerate until set. Use as needed in Ethiopian recipes or spread sporadically on toast.

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