I very much enjoy a traditional Ethiopian plate. It's great to get everyone together over a communal group of dishes and injera. Injera is an Ethiopian flatbread made out of teff. You tend to eat it with your hands and rip off pieces of injera to use as a scoop for the smaller dishes, much like a tortilla chip or pita bread. Although, in the world of Coronavirus, many of these communal meals have unfortunately gone by the wayside! I dare say that it has been far too long since I have had good Ethiopian food.
I'm not entirely feeling up to making injera, though. I've done it successfully before and one of my local grocery stores in rural Wisconsin actually sells teff. So, I could make it! But the precise nature of baking is really not my forte and I would rather stick with the spirit of Ethiopian food, rather than make a precise replica. After all, I live alone and don't have anyone to share this meal with this week.
Not to be dissuaded! I'm endeavoring to make the most of it and bring these flavors into new and interesting dishes. Part of the fun of eating multiple dishes in tandem is mixing and matching and finding combinations of foods that work well together. So, this isn't entirely out of the spirit of Ethiopian food. And part of my cooking style is grabbing everything that I have in the kitchen and just figuring out how to make it work! But it also epitomizes how to have fun with food.
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Variations of Ethiopian Lentils & Sautéed Spinach
Ethiopian lentils are a sautéed spinach are incredibly delicious staples. They can be eaten individually or incorporated into other meals. I particularly like making a plethora of similar recipes with salmon or eggs.
Ethiopian lentils and sautéed spinach are incredibly delicious staples. They can be eaten individually or incorporated into other meals. I'm fond of having them alongside injera. However, that requires fermenting teff and I don't always want to do that. So, turning Ethiopian dishes into more of a salad makes more practical sense sometimes. Because sometimes being a lazy cook is also delicious!
I used Roasted Calabaza Squash in this recipe. This takes a couple of hours and requires a calabaza (or other squash or pumpkin of choice) as well as aluminum foil and a baking dish.
Ethiopian Lentils
Add calabaza squash, habanero, and garlic to a food processor. Purée for 30 seconds, or until smooth.When I roasted the calabaza squash, I puréed half of it and froze the rest whole. If you puréed all of it, simply skip this step and mince the habanero and garlic. I just puréed them all together to saved time, but it isn't necessary! The flavor profile will be the same, either way.
Add all of the ingredients for the lentils to a rice cooker (squash purée with habanero and garlic, turmeric, red onion, coconut oil, spices, salt, pepper, lentils, and water).
Grind whole cloves, coriander, cumin, and fenugreek in a mortar and pestle.A lot of the time I prefer whole spices and grinding them in a mortar and pestle. I used whole cloves, coriander, cumin, and fenugreek. You can easily substitute ground spices and mix and match whatever you have on hand.
Press the cook button on the rice cooker. While lentils aren't rice, it does cook the same and oftentimes better than rice in a rice cooker. It typically takes 30-45 minutes.
When the lentils is fully cooked, fluff with a wooden spoon.Do not use a fork or other metal utensil. It will scratch off the nonstick surface on the rice cooker. This will leach teflon into your food and cause future dishes to stick to the bottom!
Sauté Spinach
While the lentils are cooking, add garlic, ginger, and yellow onion to a food processor. Pulse a couple of times until roughly chopped.
Add spinach, a few handfuls at a time, and pulse until roughly chopped. Continue adding handfuls of spinach and pulsing until all of the spinach is incorporated.
Add spinach mixture, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and olive oil (all of the ingredients) to a sauté pan.
Bring to medium-heat and cook until wilted, about 7-10 minutes. Make sure to stir occasionally to keep the spinach from burning.
Prepare Salad
Spread sautéed spinach across a plate and top with lentils. If you're making them back-to-back, served hot is great. I've also had them chilled or room temperature as more of a traditional salad.
Both Ethiopian lentils and sautéed spinach are great to make ahead of time. They keep and reheat well. I'll reheat in a pan on the stove or in a small dish in the air fryer.
You can also mix and match what you eat them with. Ethiopian lentils and sautéed spinach work well and are more traditionally consumed more as a salad or side dish. I tossed in some cherry tomatoes and the poached salmon that I made last week for a Salad with Wine Poached Salmon, Ethiopian Lentils, & Sautéed Spinach. Feel free to mix and match for what you have on hand!
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