Sunday, March 19, 2006

Sunday already...

Wow, what a whirlwind of a week. At our church we have been learning about different countries around the world that are having a Leadership Training Time. Our church relates to many different churches around the world. This month we learned about Ethiopia, since there is a LTT there this month. Then at night we get together and all cook something from the country of choice and share it for dinner.

We made injera. It is a thin, soft spongy flat bread. They use it as a utensil to scoop up different foods with. The recipe is

1. Mix 1 1/4 cups of flour with 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. baking soda and 2 cups warm water. Blend it well and make sure the flour isn't sticking to the bottom of the bowl.
2. Add 1 tbsp. Club Soda and stir, using a spatula.
3. Spray the griddle with non-stick cooking spray and heat stove to medium heat.
4. When griddle is hot scoop up one ladle full of batter and pour onto the griddle. Swirl the batter around the griddle so it covers the surface evenly. Don't make it too thick.
5. Cook it until the top of the batter looks dry and the edges curl. Use the flat spatula to life the injera off the griddle and let it cool.
6. Repeat until all the batter is used up.

We are making doro wat (chicken stewed in red pepper sauce) to go along with the injera. You are to scoop the doro wat up with the injera. The recipe is:

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan with 12 cups chopped onions and 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic. Stir frequently until onions are golden brown. Reduce heat to simmer and add 1 cup tomato paste, 3 cups chicken broth or water, 1 tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. cloves and cayenne pepper to taste. Mix well.

Cut up one whole chicken and add pieces, stir and coat well. Bring to a boil and then simmer, cover for 45 minutes. Stir to prevent sticking. Add 6 hard boiled eggs, chopped up and cook for 10 more minutes.

Remove from heat add salt and pepper to taste.

Mine turned out really spicy. I had doubled the recipe for doro wat, but had not double the cayenne pepper and it still turned out really spicy, so watch the amount of pepper.

I really enjoy doing this. I love the idea of cooking recipes from other countries and trying them out. Some of our favourite family recipes are international ones.

You should all try doing this sometime. It really broadens the horizons of my family and I really want my kids to be open minded and will to try things out. We have talked about if God sends us to other places, we can't just bring the PB & J and KD with us, you know? So hopefully I am opening doors for them to be more accepting of other cultures.

That is it for my post today. I will hopefully get on here againg tomorrow!!

2 comments:

  1. J and I used to be part of an ethnic dinner group. We would meet every other month and pick a country and have to make a full meal in that country's style of food. From appe's to dessert and even our drinks it all had to be that country. It was a riot and fun learning new recipe's and cooking in totally different ways!

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  2. tonight was fun! I can't wait until we can actually travel to these countries or send our kids to do it.

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