Not all Ethiopian food is spicy

I'm still testing recipes for Kittee Berns' Ethiopian cookbook, and here is a selection of recent recipes I've cooked. The potato and beet allecha wot was pretty mild. Beets may not be on everyone's 'favorites' list, but they do add a festive, rosy glow to whatever dish they're in. I'm not a huge beet fan, but I don't hate them. I wasn't thrilled with the allecha the first night, but the second night it was so delicious. And I ate the remainder for breakfast on the third day, so you know it was growing on me. Beets first thing in the morning —  Ethiopian food definitely gets better as it ages.

Another mild recipe (assuming the jalapenos you use are mild!), white beans in garlic and ginger sauce is a creamy, saucy dish to warm up a chilly evening.

A cold butternut squash salad will add a vibrant splash of color to an Ethiopian spread, as well as a bright flavor.

My favorites are the spicy dishes, and the spicy red lentils with mushrooms was great. With a few less spicy salads or vegetable dishes to balance the heat, you'll have a nice selection of spicy and mild.

One more spicy wot of deliciousness was kind of a do-it-yourselfer. The recipe provided the basic sauce, and I chose my own add-ins. I picked carrots, potatoes, peas and marinated soy curls. Just looking at it is making me hungry.

Tofu, of course, isn't Ethiopian, but Kittee is including a selection of fusion recipes in her cookbook. One of the recipes is awaze tofu. And, yes, it tastes as good as it looks. I guess you're all just waiting for the book to hit the stores before you grab a copy for yourself. It will be good!

I (still) love Ethiopian food

Fasolia be Karot

Testing for Kittee's Ethiopian cookbook is still going strong at our house. Although I have to admit to a moment or two of Ethiopian food fatigue, we still love all the dishes we've been making. If you've eaten Ethiopian food, you've no doubt noticed that much of it is really spicy, but not all. A platter of food usually includes mild foods and salad to balance out the heat of the highly spiced dishes. The Fasolia be Karot, or green beans with carrot that you see in the photo above, was rich with garlic, ginger and onions, but mild and sweet in taste. We both loved the flavor of the tender green beans and carrots.

Ye'dubba Kai Wot

The roasted butternut squash in a spicy red sauce was spectacular — very spicy and delicious. It was wonderful wrapped up in bites of tangy injera.

Shehan Ful

The Shehan Ful, or mashed seasoned fava beans, is a breakfast food. Topped with tomato, onion and jalapeno, it's a fine way to get the morning started — or the afternoon. I enjoyed it spread on crackers for lunch, though that's not the traditional way to eat it.

You've seen pancakes like these many times on this blog and others. Chickpea flour flatbreads are popular in many countries (Italy, Spain, France, India ... to name a few) and I love them. The Ethiopian version you see here is filled with chopped tomato, onion, parsley and peas. Hot off the griddle they are thick, fluffy and delicious, but after a night in the fridge, they tend to compress a bit. I rejuvenated mine with a very thin coat of Niter Kibbeh and a short visit in the microwave. Still delicious!

Awaze is a pleasantly hot barbecue or dipping sauce, and it's hard not to put it on everything.

Not all the food in Kittee's book is traditional. There are a few renegade recipes like the burgers you see above that make use of leftover Ethiopian dishes partnered with old friends like tofu.

I was happy to use some of the leftover butternut squash and another vegetable dish to mix up the burgers when I couldn't stand the thought of eating the originals one more time. The burgers were wonderful, and reminded me of a terrific little tofu burger I used to buy ages ago — only these were better. The texture and the taste were very appealing. I ate them straight up — both hot, and cold the next day.

University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

We do other things besides eat around here. For example, we belong to a walking group that explores various locations around Seattle every Sunday morning. For about two hours, we walk different areas of town. Seattle is filled with great places to hike right in the city, and we've been to places we never knew existed, thanks to our very talented and knowledgeable leader. She not only knows the best places to explore, she can identify the plants and birds, and also is somewhat of a history buff, so she gives us background info on what we're seeing. And she doesn't get lost.

Yes, it was blooming. University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

Here are a few photos from a recent walk in the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. It's still hard for me to believe a few plants are in bloom in November.

A sassafras leaf in fall color. University of Washington Botanic Gardens.

We've been incredibly lucky so far in that it hasn't been raining on our walks. On the day the photos were taken, it was actually sunny. This past Sunday, we watched the salmon running in Carkeek Park, and hiked the trails in the chilly gloom — but no rain! Do you have great natural areas to hike where you live?

Testing Ethiopian recipes

Ye'atakilt Kai Wot

I've just started testing recipes for Kittee-Bee Berns' upcoming Ethiopian cookbook. You know if you've ever done it, that testing recipes is a lot harder than just waiting for the book to be published and buying it, but I have to tell you that testing the recipes for Kittee has been great so far. I love Ethiopian food, and I'm pretty sure I could eat it every night, though I might need a larger wardrobe.

Seriously, I think my natural ability to stop eating when full has taken a vacation from my brain. This morning I woke up still full, and only managed a cup of tea for breakfast. Maybe once the novelty wears off, I'll regain some control.

First up was a visit to an Ethiopian grocery store and injera bakery, where I purchased various spice blends and other assorted necessities. I had to have help from the kind proprietor to identify the items, and I wrote the names of the various herbs and spices on their labels so I'd remember what they were.

I had planned to buy gluten-free injera there, too, but they were sold out, and I was told I needed to order it in advance. Luckily there are three or four Ethiopian restaurants on every block where we were (both sides of the street, too!) and several had signs in the window for GF injera. We picked one and asked if they would sell us injera, and they said yes. We bought six pieces. It was the darkest, thickest, sourest, largest injera I've ever had. Perfect.

Homemade Niter kibbeh on the left. Dry berbere from the shop on the right.

The first thing I made was the fragrant cooking oil used for many of the dishes. In Ethiopian cooking, a spice infused clarified butter is used, but for vegan cooking, that needs to be altered. I minced, peeled, grated, measured and cooked my niter kibbeh, then put a jar into the sink to catch the liquid fat as I strained it. I was almost done with the straining when the jar tipped over and much of the oil mix dumped into the sink. I quickly set the jar upright, then, after staring in disbelief at the golden liquid in my sink, decided the sink was clean enough, grabbed a silicone spatula, and scooped up as much as I could. I lost about 1/2 cup but I suppose it could have been worse.

Ye'atakilt Kai Wot

We made three dishes the first night and one the second night. Plus, I made a seasoning mix and a salad dressing.

Ye'misir Allecha

There was a lot of food so our plan was to add something new each night to go with leftovers.

Ye'tikil Selata

This is working out well because the food actually tasted even better the second night. (And I'm counting on it being even better on night three. :D) I think it would be perfect party food that I could make ahead and reheat.

Ye'zelbo Gomen

Although we've loved everything I've made so far, I think our favorite dish was Ye'zelbo Gomen — a collard recipe. There were a lot of mmms and ooooohs as we ate it.

Because I've been photographing the food at night, it's been hard to get good images, but trust me, tasting the testing has been a real treat so far.