Injera

When I arrived at college almost four years ago, I had never tried Ethiopian food. In fact, it was not until almost two years later that I finally went to a little restaurant in Pittsburgh called Abay and had a big plate of injera and wat. I was instantly in love. I have always been a spice fiend, and the complex flavors of the dishes blew me away. I was addicted, and I still crave those spices.

However, I have also always been a bread fiend, and injera, the spongy, tangy bread made from teff, is a big part of the Ethiopian eating experience. Rice is just not the same. The two Ethiopian restaurants in Pittsburgh use gluten-containing flours in their injera, so I have been on a mission to make a gluten-free version. I have been served flawless gluten-free injera in Washington, DC, so I know it is possible. Traditional injera is made from only teff flour, and rather than having leaveners added, the slurry of teff and water is fermented to develop the flavor and create air bubbles.

However, the web is sadly bereft of recipes that are both authentic and functional. We have, for example, monstrosities from Paula Deen that have no teff at all, and substitute baking powder for the fermentation step.

I picked out this recipe and gave it a whirl, fermenting the teff-water slurry for 3 days and cooking according to the instructions. It. was. awful. I am sad and I don't know where to go from here. The not-injera had none of the tangy sourdough taste, and refused to cook up like I remembered. I am wondering if the same cooking technique that I use for Indian dosa could be employed here: pour the batter into a cold skillet and heat it up from there.

As an unrelated aside, injera batter looks like chocolate milk: