Experiences · Food & Drink

Injera & an Ethiopian kitchen

Pour injera on the mitad, cook the stews that go with it, and eat together the Ethiopian way.

Injera is the heart of every Ethiopian meal — a soft, tangy flatbread made from teff, the tiny grain native to the Ethiopian highlands. In a family kitchen in Addis Ababa, you learn to make it, and everything served on top of it.

Teff is the smallest grain in the world, and injera is slow food: the batter ferments for days before it is ready, which is where its sour tang comes from. Then it is poured in a spiral onto a wide clay griddle, the mitad, and covered until the surface sets into its familiar pattern of tiny holes. Getting the pour right takes practice — and a few failed attempts are part of the fun.

While the injera cooks, you make the dishes that go with it: a simmering wat, shiro from ground chickpeas, and vegetable dishes that many Ethiopians eat on fasting days. Your host explains the spices, the butter and the order things are cooked in.

Then everyone sits down together around one shared platter. Eating with the right hand, tearing injera to scoop the stews, is the whole etiquette — and being offered a mouthful by your host is a gesture of friendship.

Vegetarian and vegan menus are easy — many Ethiopian dishes are naturally plant-based.

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