Eaten Up

Sometimes substitutions are in order. Having not found injera after the place I used to buy it having closed, I substituted chapatti. The dora wat recipe relies on chicken for flavor and I left it more up to the the butter.

spice blends don’t have to be exact. You can start with the seed, roast/toast and grind yourself or just mix the pre-ground ones. For berbere:

3 Tbsp paprika
3 Tbsp Hungarian paprika
4-10 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on what heat you can take)
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp fenugreek
2 tsp cardamom
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp dried ginger

I discovered I didn’t have tomato paste in the pantry while the 4 onions were getting translucent.

Undeterred, because constraints make creativity, I rummaged up some soaked and frozen sun-dried tomatoes and fresh tomato sauce. Instead of just the berbere onion tomato sauce, I made a Lebanese hummus, but with ground cilantro so it’s an ethio-leban-indian fusion meal.

In the same meal I made veggie patties from half a boiled cauliflower, instant potato (could use leftover mashed potato if you have it), rehydrated veggie flakes and half an egg as a binder. I dipped the patties in the rest of the egg and rolled that in a breading of bread crumbs, sesame seeds and garam marsala.