Whole tender okra pods stewed in tomato sauce with Eritrean hot spices, served with the sour fermented injera crepe and a side of spicy lentils and lettuce, tomato, and onion salad, is right up my alley; I walked for an hour to get it. I think you either love okra or hate it, and I'm an okra lover, and this Eritrean version is about as good as it gets. Yes, it's a touch slimy, but it wouldn't be okra without it. The dish was sour, savory, and spicy in a complex way, and together with an Eritrean beer, it was a lovely refreshing dinner that I ate outdoors on the front patio.
Location: Muzita Bistro, 4651 Park Boulevard, San Diego, California. Date: August 2, 2019.
3 Comments
This is a spicy ground liver wot that I found at Awash Ethiopian Restaurant in San Diego, which is a basic looking restaurant, but with an extensive menu, in the back of an Ethiopian market. I hadn't had this dish in Ethiopia, and this was the first time I found it at an Ethiopian restaurant in the U.S. The waiter told me that in Ethiopia this was a breakfast and also a holiday dish. A waitress came and asked me how I wanted the liver cooked (raw, medium, or well done), and I asked her how she liked it and she said medium, so that's what I ordered. The mild ground liver came loaded with raw finely chopped red onion and green chilies. The chilies provided spice and, together with the onion, some slightly crunchy texture. The liver was cooked in spiced butter, and there was some salted red chilly powder on the side to boost the flavor and spice as you like. The sour injera bread (or rather spongy pancake) tempered the heat of the spice and added a nice tang to the dish. Even if you don't like liver, you may like Dulet; there was no metallic liver taste to it at all. I enjoyed my meal with a Meta beer, “the pride of Ethiopia”. It was slightly sweet with a strong malt flavor. I could taste the hops but there was no strong or unpleasant bitterness.
Location: Awash Ethiopian Restaurant, 2884 El Cajon Boulevard, San Diego, California. Date: July 28, 2019. I've been going to Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles for decades to enjoy good Ethiopian cooking. Perhaps the most important Ethiopian dish is Yedoro Wot, a spicy chicken stew served with hard boiled egg; no Ethiopian wedding would be complete without it. It's always served on the ubiquitous sour dough pancake called injera, and this version of the chicken wot came with two chicken legs, with fall off the bone tender meat, and one hard boiled egg; it was all drenched in a spicy red sauce based on onion and the famous fiery Ethiopian spice mix called berbere. The dish came with tomato salad that included finely chopped onion and green chiles. The entire plate was a harmony of spicy, savory, and sour, with just a hint of sweetness. For those not familiar with Ethiopian food, I'll just say that I think it's one of the world's great cuisines. I enjoyed my injera and wot with a Harrar beer, a noteworthy beer from Ethiopia. It's malty and hoppy in a smooth and balanced way.
Location: Merkato, 1036 South Fairfax, Los Angeles, California. Date: July 18, 2019. I've eaten in plenty of Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants in the U.S., but the Thursday night street fair in Palm Springs is the first time I've had Eritrean food on the street. When I lived there, Ethiopia and Eritrea were one country, and their injera and wot cuisine is basically the same. Injera is a soft pliable sourdough pancake made with teff flour; teff is a type of grass native to East Africa, and the seeds, from which the flour is made, are very nutritious. Wots are spicy stews that vary in spiciness and sauciness. They can be made from just about anything, and many are vegetarian. Vegetarian is what I ordered from Asmarina Foods at the street fair. I chose three wots to go with the injera: lentils, okra, and spinach. The lentils contained onion and spices that tasted a bit like curry. The okra, which wasn't slimy, came with tomato in a spiced gravy. The chopped cooked spinach had carrot and mushrooms in it, along with spices and possibly lemon juice. Ginger and garlic are popular spices for these vegetarian dishes. The fresh sour injera and the flavors of the wots were the real deal; this was some good Eritrean home cooking.
Location: Palm Springs Street Fair, Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, California. Date: April 18, 2019. |
AuthorChef Roland has been a legal resident of seven countries and has travelled in over thirty, documenting food along the way. He currently resides in the desert in Southern California. Categories
All
|