Sticky Pongal, Feeding each other, Kitfo and Masai Mara, Ethiopian Journey, Blog Post No - 60

Food and eating habits are integral to our personality and culture. So getting used to a country with so much paucity of vegetables, pulses and grains was a huge challenge in itself! Throw an Indian into a tough situation and the jugaad in her, reigns up its head and roars. And presto! we have a solution to the problem.

The broken rice that was available in Ethiopia, when cooked had a somewhat sticky, soggy feel. It would have been lovely to have this rice with sambar, but alas Indian Sambar could not be prepared as toor daal was neither produced nor sold in Bahirdar.

Padma discovered that masoor (red gram) was available and made it her own staple daal. She made Pappu (daal), sambhar and wonder of wonders very tasty and slightly sticky Pongal. The stickiness of the rice and the organically produced masoor dal meant that the Pongal tasted like an offering from the heaven! It was our staple breakfast for our four years stay in Bahirdar.

It was loved by all of us. Once a little bit of Pongal was left over and Sahithi as a lark, offered it to her battery of kittens.

The kittens almost killed each other in their haste to sample this new type of food. They finished the Pongal in a jiffy and we witnessed a yodelling war for a few minutes when they demanded to be given more of this wonderful concoction that they have never tasted before.

So, from that day when ever Padma prepared Pongal we had a patient army of kittens waiting with discipline to partake in the amrut! Their expression and their earnestness were a sight to behold. They would wait with rapt attention as if it was prasad from heaven!

Padma also made excellent rice fryums (vadiyalu) had them dried in the crisp Bahirdar sun and we had excellent side dish that was lip smackingly tasty and readily available. Senaga Pindi (Bengal Gram flour) was available and for Indians it was like manna from the heaven as Indian savouries like Murukulu, bajji, Mysore Pak could be made. 

Our staple snack was Murukulu, which Padma stockpiled! They brought in memories of Hyderabad and of India!

In the afternoon I usually ate in the college Canteen. It was wonderful to eat with the Ethiopians. It was a communal lunch where a single Injira would be ordered and many would eat. They would eat, the Indian style with their fingers. They would break off chunks of Injira, dip it in the variety of curries (or wats) and eat with gusto and appreciation.

The second or the third time we were having our lunch, one of my lady Ethiopian colleague broke off a Injira bit, dipped it in wat and offered it to me. It was not offered to me like we share among Indians. That bit of food was not given to me in the hand. She fed me just like a mother feeds her baby! I was totally taken aback! It was a shock of a life time.

Two or three iterations later, I realized what was happening. Offering Injira was showing love and affection. It was a badge of honour. It was a custom that was practised among close friends or relatives.

It was extremely rare that a foreigner would be offered a bite! I was so happy and humbled that Ethiopians accepted me as a close friend and as a loved relative. It was such a nice but a startling experience. 

Sometime later our Vice President invited all the faculty including the expatriate faculty with their families for a dinner at the university. It was a typical Ethiopian feast. There was Injira and dabbo (freshly baked bread). Also available were many varieties of wats. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian wats were on display. Ethiopians use chilly, salt, ginger and garlic in their dishes but are bland by Indian standards. Ethiopians do not use spices and that means that their dishes do not have the flavour and the aroma that Indian dishes give out in abundance.

Most of the Indian teachers were suffering. There was hardly anything that they could eat. They had to eat bread with veg wat and that was that! Padma who was a vegetarian was happily eating Injira with masoor dal wat and vegetables. Suddenly she turned to me and whispered “what is that smell” And she discovered the item that was giving out the smell/aroma. “Don’t ask me now “I whispered “I will tell you later”.

Later that night I explained to her “The dish that you were referring to is Kitfo. Kitfo is freshly minced beef (like our Kheema which is finely chopped mutton). In India the Kheema is pressure cooked and then made into meat balls which are deep fried. But in Ethiopia Kitfo is eaten raw without cooking. Kitfo is freshly minced beef that is eaten with butter”

Seeing Padma’s pained expression, I added “Please remember, it is an Ethiopian culture and we are nobody to pass judgement about peoples’ food habits. Neither Ethiopian Christians nor Ethiopian Muslims worship cows and most of the beef that is available in Ethiopia is cow meat. Kitfo is a delicacy and no one has forced us to eat it. So when they eat, it is their choice and we should not be objecting to their food habits”.

I went on “Food is a personal choice. For example, in Kenya the Masai Mara tribe have a very different breakfast. They would catch one of their cows and draw out a liberal dose of blood from its neck. Then the cow is released and strangely the cow is not affected by the ordeal. Infact the Masai Mara insist that the blood letting is good for the cows. The freshly drawn blood is mixed with cow milk and the mixture is consumed by the Masai Mara. For most of us this might be an extreme case of food choice”.

Padma was shell shocked. Her goose bumps were clearly visible. She was dumb struck. It was uncomprehendable! How can someone drink cow’s blood and that too freshly drawn?  

Just to tease her I added “The blood and the cow milk when mixed have the texture and colour of very strong Coffee! The fact of the matter is, the Masai Mara are the most fit individuals in the world with the least body fat and the least incidence of hypertension, diabetes and life threatening diseases.

There is research that is being conducted on Masai Mara to find out reasons for their low body fat and how they are able to run many kilometres without breaking into a sweat or getting exhausted. Many Kenyans are excellent athletes and win many gold medals in middle and long distance running! So let us not be judgemental and judge people from our limited perspective”.

Padma was thoroughly impressed and also slightly bored with the lengthy explanation. I was sure that the next time she sees something strange she would keep it to herself. If she asks, she would be hammered with a long lecture. Talk of risks of being married to an articulate management teacher! It was a marriage induced hazard of monumental proportion.

Injira the Ethiopian Dosa - Ethiopian Journey Part - Blog Post No - 17

Making the National Dish of Ethiopia, The Injira 

Next day morning, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door and standing there was a small, petite and bubbly woman. She barged in “My name is Annie Clara; I am from Tamil Nadu”. She announced, “I am a lecturer in the accounting department of PEDA, Bahirdar University. Addis told me that you had come and I came to welcome you”.

I was touched. Here we are, thousands of kilometres away from home and we are being received so warmly. Clara assured us that she would help us for anything that we need.   I thanked her for her visit and generosity.

The texture of an Injira 

We were not getting our food, so we volunteered to try the local food. The local Chapatti or the staple food is the Injira. Injira is like a huge flat bread or like a very gigantic dosa. Injira is made from one of the tiniest grain in the world. The iron rich grain is called Teff. Injira is a dough risen flat bread with a sour, unique spongy texture. Injira is the national dish of Ethiopia.

The first time we had Injira, it was a huge let down. It had a very sour taste and it was very huge. The quantity would be enough to make 6-8 Indian dosas. Injira is round and is twenty  inches in diameter. The interesting part are the side dishes that are put on the top of the Injira. The nearest Indian equivalent of the Injira is an Uttapam but fermented many times over.

Teff flour is mixed with water and the mixture is allowed to ferment for several days. As a result of this process, Injira gets a definite sour taste. The Injira is then baked into large, flat pancakes.

Injira is never eaten alone. It is always served with several kinds of wats (dals) or curies or stews. There can be two or three different types of wats made of meats (mutton, chicken or beef), egg, many types of salads and a little rice. The amount of rice eaten by an average south Indian would feed atleast fifty Ethiopians. Typically, spoonful of rice is served along with the Injira.

As the Injira is spongy and granular, the wat soaks it thoroughly and that makes the Injira very tasty. Initially it was quite difficult to eat an Injira. But later on we started enjoying it and Padma often says that she misses an Injira. We did have Injira in California, USA. No doubt It was tasty but to experience an authentic Injira one needs to taste it in Ethiopia.

Usually Injira is eaten with different types of meats like Dora (Chicken) wat, Tibs (pieces of fried meat pieces). There are many variations of the delicacy, depending on type, size or shape of the cuts of meat used.

But during the lent and on Wednesday and Friday a vegetarian Injira is eaten, my favourite called the Beyeyanetu. Whenever I went to the restaurant in Ethiostar and proudly ordered a Beyeyanetu, the waitress would giggle. Annoyed and irritated, I complained to the Manager of the hotel. He came back to me beaming “Sir, the girl is actually very flattered that you are ordering an Ethiopian dish and that too in Amharic. But your accent is that of a very small child just learning Amharic. She finds it very cute”. I don’t know whether it was a compliment or an insult to be compared with a child.  

Fit-Fit or Fir-fir is a common Ethiopian breakfast dish. It is made from shredded Injira, stir-fried with spices or wat.

Another popular breakfast food is Fatira. The delicacy consists of a large fried pancake made with flour, often with a layer of egg. It is eaten with honey.

The Most Popular snacks are Dabo Kolo (small pieces of baked bread). Ethiopian Kolo (roasted barley mixed with other local grains). 

Kolo made from roasted barley, chickpeas and peanuts is often sold by street vendors wrapped in a paper cone. Popcorn is also popular as a snack. 

Surprise of surprises, a delicacy called Sambusa (Indian Samosa) is also popular in some parts of Ethiopia. But the filling is not potato, instead mashed lentil (green gram) is used! Talk of globalization of Indian food.

As the Injira is rich in Iron and not in Carbohydrates, Ethiopians are typically thin and wiry. African athleticism and high altitude climate, makes most Ethiopians have good physique. In 2002, it was very rare to see a fat Ethiopian. So whenever they see a very a large man or woman they would get fascinated and follow that person. Of-course the obvious ribbing and ragging would automatically follow.

Due of their easy going nature and their natural good genes and healthy eating, incidence of Heart attacks are very rare in Ethiopia (166^th rank out of 172 countries surveyed) whereas India is a high risk country with a global rank of 39.

One-day right in front of Ethiostar there was a head-on collision that involved two bicyclists. In India it would have led to an altercation where all the bystanders would join in merrily, create a huge ruckus and finally it would lead to a massive traffic Jam. The aftermath of the crowd disturbance in many cases would be many times more severe than the accident itself.

But here both the Ethiopians who were sprawled flat on the ground got up, dusted themselves and hugged each other. There was exchange of pleasantries and after checking each other’s bicycles they went on their respective ways. Such a charming way to solve minor problems.

Ethiopians tend to wear lots of clothes. A typical Ethiopian would wear many sets of clothes and wear a coat and cover their body with a white cloth. Most of the Indians were initially skeptical of this habit but quickly realized that it was a very wise decision. In a country where the climate is variable and the temperature fluctuates by as much as 20 degrees centigrade in a day, it is better to cover the body with protective clothing so that the body does not get too cold and suffer from debilitating diseases. Even in a city bus the locals would keep all the windows shut and would rather suffer the suffocation rather than let the cool breeze come in. Perhaps they were also protecting themselves from the dust rising out of the metal roads.