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.
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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
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