Injera (Somali: canjeero, Tigrinya እንጀራ, pronounced [ɨndʒǝra], sometimes transliterated enjera) is a pancake-like bread made out of teff flour.[1] It is traditionally eaten in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia (where it is also called laxoox ) and Yemen (where it is known as lahoh).
Ingredients and cooking method
The most valued grain used to make injera is from the tiny, iron-rich teff. However, its production is limited to certain middle elevations and regions with adequate rainfall, so it is relatively expensive for the average household. Because the overwhelming majority of highland Ethiopians are poor farming households that grow their own subsistence grain, wheat, barley, corn, and/or rice flour are sometimes used to replace some or all of the teff content. There are also different varieties of injera in Ethiopia, such as nech (white), kay (red) and tikur (black).
In making injera, teff flour is mixed with water and allowed to ferment for several days, as with sourdough starter. As a result of this process, injera has a slight sour taste. The injera is then ready to bake into large flat pancakes, done either on a specialized electric stove or, more commonly, on a clay plate (mogogo) placed over a fire. In terms of shape, Injera compares to the French crepe and the South Indian dosa as a flatbread cooked in a circle and used as a base for other foods. The taste and texture, however, are quite unique and unlike the crepe and dosa.
Consumption
A variety of stews, sometimes salads (during Ethiopian Orthodox fasting, for which believers abstain from most animal products) or simply more injera (called injera firfir), are placed upon the injera for serving. Using one's right hand, small pieces of injera are torn and used to grasp the stews and salads for eating. The injera under these stews soaks up the juices and flavours of the foods and, after the stews and salads are gone, this bread is also consumed. Injera is thus simultaneously food, eating utensil, and plate. When the entire "tablecloth" of injera is gone, the meal is over.
Contemporary situation
Injera is eaten daily in virtually every household, and preparing it requires considerable time and resources. In Eritrea and Ethiopia, the bread is cooked on a large, black, clay plate (mogogo) over a fire. This set-up is a stove called a mitad, which is difficult to use, produces large amounts of smoke, and is dangerous to children. Because of this cooking method, much of the area's limited fuel resources are wasted. But in 2003, a research group was given the Ashden award[2] for designing a new type of stove[3] for cooking injera. The new stove uses available fuel sources (including dung, locally called achwar) for cooking injera and other foods efficiently, saving the heat from the fuel. Several parts are made in the central cities of the countries, while other parts are molded from clay by women of local areas.
Outside of the Ethiopian Plateau, injera may be found in groceries and restaurants specializing in Eritrean, Ethiopian, or Somali foods. It can also be found in Israel where large numbers of Ethiopian (Beta Israel) and Yemeni Jews have settled.
See also
References
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