Berbere

One great thing about adopting from Ethiopia is that we happen to live in an area of Oakland where there is a pretty big Ethiopian community, so there’s lots of Ethiopian restaurants and markets around. Naturally while waiting, we’re trying to learn as much as we can about Ethiopian culture, so because I love to cook I thought I’d start with the food. The main spice mixture used in all Ethiopian dishes is called berbere and it contains a lot of my favorite spices (cardamon, cumin, ginger, cayenne, allspice, cloves, black pepper, fenugreek). So I went to the market and easily found berbere and fresh injera (the pancake-like bread made of teff flour that’s served with all dishes) and made my first Ethiopian dish: Doro Wat. It’s a braised chicken dish – really rich, spicy, buttery, and it turned out good. I think it needs a little tweaking in proportions, but Chaat loved it!