95 - Prodigious Pranav and Deadly Dosas! Ethiopian Journey

Pranav was a prodigious kid. Full of beans and doubts which could stun and irritate the most docile and placid person. It was very irritating and quite frankly we were spell bound by his doubts. We simply did not have answers to his prolific and ‘always-on–tap’ questions. He could rattle off a sequence of doubts and expect his mother to answer them to his satisfaction! A tall order by any standard!!!

He was quite dubious and cunning about the entire thing. He would slide up to his mother and fire one quite innocuously with “butter would not melt in my mouth” demeanor. Some of his doubts almost made poor Padma jump out of her skin! We were very sure that his 8-year-old body would be twitching in delight seeing the hardships he was causing!!! 

Many dishes were spoiled and many times Padma almost lost it. Even though she was quite calm and composed, Pranav’s continuous barrage of questions were wearing down her defenses. At times she had the haunted look of a person locked in a room with a machine that keeps firing questions at her just like cricket balls thrown at 100 miles per hour at a helpless number 11 batsman! Such was his volley of questions that he was quickly christened “Master Doubtfire” by his quite irritated and totally hapless mother. 

Sample some of his doubts: 

Why is it called Ladies Finger why not Gents Finger? 

Why should we call it Mango why not Womango? 

Why Handsaw why not Handsee? 

Why T-shirt why not coffee-shirt?

Why Rocket and not stonet? 

Why Octopus why not 8-pus? 

Why Donkey why not Donlock? 

Why Mongoose and why not Mongeese and not Mongander? 

Why Breakfast why not Breakslow for a person eating slowly?

Why tooth paste why not teeth paste and teeth brush 

And the mostly deadly one - Does a tiger eat a man with his clothes on, or does the tiger take the clothes off his victim before eating him?

We never had answers to such questions!!!

On an exceptionally hard day Padma was totally at her wits end. She was ready to say quits! Seeing the seriousness of the situation, I made the family sit in the garden and passed a diktat (order). In my most serious and dictatorial voice, I proclaimed with all the pomp that I could muster “For the next one hour our family will be the most silent family in Bahirdar”. 

Padma the poor soul was delighted. ‘Silence is gold and I need a tonne of it” she must have muttered to herself. Sahithi all of two years was intimidated by my seriousness. She became silent and looked at her mother for support. 

This was something not to Pranav’s liking. His 8-year-old self-rebelled against the idea of sitting silently for 60 minutes which otherwise could be spent fruitfully by asking mind numbing questions that would send any sane person into stupor or even into coma! 

Then he brightened visibly and glibly said, “Sahithi, a silent family is a family that does not talk. Silence means that no one talks. A silent family is liked by everyone……………..” He rattled on and on. For the next ten minutes we were given a lecture on silence, why we need to be silent and virtues of being silent in the most noisy and raucous fashion! I SILENTLY marveled at the ingenuity of my son who adroitly turned tables on us! For once I was totally stumped! Game set and match - Pranav Pratheek, the noisiest boy in the world!!! 

You can take an Indian out of India but you can’t take India out of an Indian. We were yearning for Dosas and Idlis but Minappappu (Urad Dal), skinned Black gram was not available in Bahirdar. Dr. Radhakrishna, a fellow faculty member made a monumental discovery. HE DISCOVERED URAD DAL in Bahirdar market and it was quite cheap, ten birr a kilo. 

Soon there were stories making rounds in Bahirdar. Stories of how Radhakrishna’s family was enjoying Dosas and Idlis by the dozen. His family was the envy of the town. Soon a contingent of Indian teachers beseeched Radhakrishna and finally he consented with a kindly light took us to the shop in Bahirdar market which sold the URAD DAL. The shop keeper was nonplussed but solemnly sold us as much Urad Dal as we wanted.

Padma the kind soul, threw a dosa party. Kable 7’s Indians, Bala, Suresh, Krishna, Rajani madam and Clara were invited. Oh boy did we have a dosa party! It was the mother of all parties. 

Padma made karam podi and potato curry and we all hogged. Many of us had three to four dosas. The dosas almost tasted Indian. Everyone dispersed after the dosa orgy. By afternoon all hell broke out. 

Everyone barring Sahithi (who wisely had only one dosa) was having the most severe stomach cramps. So severe that it felt as if our stomach was being churned by an infernal washing machine in the fast wash mode and it looked like someone forcefully stapled our stomachs. 

The pain was unbearable. Home remedies were tried out, including drinking water copiously, having soft drinks, digene but to no avail. Many Indians faced a sleepless night. We suffered too. It was like an Agatha Christie novel “Death by Dosa!”. 

Next day I scooped up some of the innocuous and innocent looking skinned black gram seeds and took them to my Management HOD. She too was puzzled. She did not even know what they were! I was desperate to crack the mystery. I took the offensive grains to the Agricultural Department of Bahirdar University. 

The kind professor who received us too, was nonplussed. He took the grains and promised a quick investigation as to why these grains caused so much pain!! 

The professor was at my office the next day. He had an almighty grin. A grin so wide that it threatened to tear his face off. He was trying to control his mirth, but it was a lost battle, “Dr. Aneel” he almost shouted at me “It is very clear. What you ate is not for human consumption. It is a special grain that is used in Ethiopia to make race horses run as fast as they can. The grain is so strong that it is diluted so much that a kilo of this wonder grain is enough to boost twenty horses to gallop as fast as they can”. It was a shock of my life. 

We ground the very strong and toxic grains and made dosas!!!  And we had dosas with equally heavy potato curry.  It was no wonder that we all experienced the most severe stomach cramps of our life. Light dawned. That is why the shopkeeper gave us such funny looks! He could not comprehend why these scholarly looking Indians were buying grains that were almost exclusively bought by Ethiopians who bred race horses that could gallop as fast as wind! But being a smart seller he was, he made hay as the sun shone! He sold us the wonder grain, while inwardly he must have been smirking “Oh boy, these Indians are as mad as MAD can be!” 

As usual Pranav had the last laugh, “What Nanna? The solution is very simple. We can eat dosas and gallop all the way to Gondar (a historic Ethiopian city, 140 kilometers from Bahirdar)”. I was so annoyed and angry that I could not even muster courage to reprimand him! It was quite an ordeal! 

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.