Alana's Injera Recipe

If you've ever had Ethiopian food, you know what injera is. It's this amazingly delicious, slightly sour, very thin bread that you use to scoop up various kinds of tasty Ethiopian dishes. A lot of people are afraid to make injera, but I really don't think it's that hard if you're laid back about it. I thought I'd post the recipe I use here in case anyone wants to give it a go. It's copied from a message I sent to a friend. Feel free to yell at me in the comments for whatever inauthentic materials or ingredients or procedures you think I'm using. But honestly, I probably won't change my method, because the end product here is tasty and works great with shiro.

Okay, so here's the injera recipe I kinda sorta follow, with some amendments. I started with a recipe from a book called Exotic Ethiopian Cooking and made some adjustments based on what works best for me. As I said before, I switch in a little all-purpose flour, but I don't remember how much. I'm sorry. I'm really bad with recipes. Make sure you use a good, hot, nonstick pan and sprinkle with salt each time--NO OIL!--and definitely cover with a lid as suggested. I also scrape any injera bits off the pan about every third one to keep the surface smooth and non-sticky. Add in a little water or a little extra flour at cook time to get the consistency just right, too. And don't be afraid to adjust along the way. If your first piece of injera is too thick, add some water. If it's too thin, add some flour. Think of it like making crepes or pancakes, and don't stress too much about it. Good luck!

Here goes:

1 1/2 lbs tef

6 cups water

2 packages yeast

In large bowl/bucket dissolve yeast in warm water, add flour mixture and mix. Leave covered 1-2 days until fermentation begins and water rises to top. (Trust me. It will happen.) Carefully discard water from top. Stir mixture and add all purpose flour or water until mixture is just right. Let sit for about 10 minutes while you preheat your pan.

Preheat pan on medium-high heat. Sprinkle a little salt on the pan before pouring mixture on EVERY TIME. Take about 1/2 cup of the mixture and pour into the pan slowly, starting at the edge and going in circles and coming to the center. Cover pan for 2-4 minutes. When ready, the edge of the injera will rise away from the pan. Don't remove the injera until the edge is pulling away all the way around. Remove immediately using a thin spatula and place on a clean cloth to cool. You can stack the pieces of injera on top of each other and just cover the top with a cloth. Injera can be covered and stored in a cool place or refrigerated for about 2-3 days. Makes 6-8 servings.

You can order tef from Bob's Red Mill, but often you can also find it in bulk in health food stores.

And that's it! Happy eating!

Reading Material: Liam Neeson Edition

What with an election coming up, I know all of you have a lot of very serious questions running around in your minds. So do I. I was glad to see that NPR addressed one of them for me.

"What Should Liam Neeson Punch Next?"

At some point, [Liam Neeson] got really into beating people up. In 2008, he had a huge hit with Taken, where he beats people up because they kidnapped his daughter. In Clash Of The Titans, he vicariously beat people up by releasing the Kraken. (Not a euphemism.) Then his desire for action became such that he actually joined The A Team! (You probably didn't see that one.) Last year in Unknown, he beat up everyone who didn't recognize him. (Which was everyone.) In the upcoming Battleship, if I am understanding the premise, he's going to fight aliens with boats...

And this Friday, in The Grey? Wolves. That's right. Liam Neeson is fighting wolves...

This naturally raises the question: After you've punched a wolf and released the Kraken, what is left to punch?

I won't tell you what the answers are, but one of them has been known to have difficulty with swivel chairs.

Elopement

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing a friend's wedding here in Hawaii. I know I'm biased--we eloped to Scotland--but I have never understood why the big family wedding so often wins out over running off to some exotic place. I mean, just look at this location:


You don't ordinarily get photos like this at the local church:


Even children love beach weddings!

Food for Thought...

Has anyone else listened to this fascinating, albeit distressing, episode of This American Life? How did it make you feel? Does any of this change the way you think about your possessions? Do you agree with the Krugman quote at the end, that sweatshop labor is both awful and wonderful at the same time?

"Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory"

Mike Daisey was a self-described "worshipper in the cult of Mac." Then he saw some photos from a new iPhone, taken by workers at the factory where it was made. Mike wondered: Who makes all my crap? He traveled to China to find out.

It's definitely worth a listen, especially if you have a computer or a television or, you know, wear clothes and shoes and stuff.

Yes, I Still Miss New York

And I loved this poem over at 5-7-5. I enjoyed flying into and out of LaGuardia when we lived in the NYC. I almost always flew right over our neighborhood, which was great fun, and flying in or out at night was an extra special treat. New York looks so starry and peaceful from the air. Although the view flying into Honolulu is also striking, mainly because after hours and hours of dark ocean, unexpectedly there's life again.

But whereas a flight into New York always made me feel hopeful, something about so many miles of ocean surrounding me on all sides feels a bit...ominous. I suppose I'll get used to it.

Won't I?

Gosh, I hope so.

Fine. I Made a New Year's Resolution.

Well, not a resolution so much as a project. Xander and I decided that our resolution is...(drum roll)...(more drum role for added drama)...to watch a lot of movies! What? You were expecting something involving exercise and dieting? HA!

No. We're going to watch a fuckton of movies. And we need your help. We've decided to let our friends dictate what we watch in 2012. No movie is too esoteric nor too controversial nor too stupid. What movie do you love? Hate? Find hard to watch? Feel completely ambivalent about that everyone else liked? First thing that pops into your head. Seriously.

Ready? Set? GO!

Play Kitchen

We made the twins a play kitchen as a gift for Ethiopian Christmas. Normally kids would get new clothes on such an occasion, but well, our kids got a kitchen because I didn't think of it in time to give it to them on December 25th, but I didn't want to wait until next year. But traditions are there to be broken, right? No? Meh. Whatever.


We used a cabinet that's about 30 years old, some cardboard, a few odds and ends from the hardware store, some leftover oil cloth from a rug I made, and paint for a total cost of about $30. I'll post more about how we made it soon, but here are a couple of photos in the meantime. I have to say I'm really proud of how it turned out!