Pseudo Ethiopian Dinner

Due to a few people talking about Ethiopian food for the past day or so (looking at you Lisa), I really wanted it for dinner tonight. A slight problem though: a) we weren't going out to get it (too lazy); and b) I didn't have the key ingredients of berbere or teff (or injera). Regardless, I was determined to cobble something together. I poked around the kitchen cabinets, pantry, fridge and CSA box and after 2.5 hours in the kitchen, the following was served:

• Pseudo Injera (white flour, water, vinegar and baking powder)
• Tikil Gomen (cabbage, potatoes, carrots, cumin, turmeric and I threw in some radish greens)
• Kik Alicha (yellow split peas, onions, garlic, cumin, turmeric)
• Pseudo Doro Wat (soy curls, onions, dark seasoned chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, dash of cloves)

So how was it? Pretty good but of course not very authentic. I ran out of pans so I baked the fake injera batter which of course didn't bubble like it would in the pan. Actually I shouldn't really call it "fake" injera since injera can be made with other flours for different occasions. Teff injera is the most common (and super yummy).

Anyway, the meal did manage to satisfy my cravings but I need to stock up on real Ethiopian spices and mixes and I need some good Ethiopian food very soon. Until then, I'm going to gorge on the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Cabbage & Barley Soup

When life hands you cabbage, you make cabbage soup!

We've been inundated for the past month with cabbage from our CSA share. I had two more heads left after roasting some and making coleslaw so I decided to make soup tonight.

The soup contains cabbage, onion, garlic, carrots, celery and barley. The base is tomato juice and it is seasoned with a couple of vegetable bouillon cubes, black pepper, vegan worcestershire sauce, sugar, thyme and summer savoury.

I sauteed the aromatics (onion, garlic, celery, carrots) first and then added in the rest of the ingredients. 25 mins in my pressure cooker and it was cooked to perfection and tastes like it was simmering for hours. Yum!

One more head of cabbage to go!