Shiro

One time BF and I were traveling through Ethiopia together.

It was around lunchtime.  We pulled into a tiny town where pickings looked slim.  Lucky for us, we both love any and all Ethiopian food - so any option would be gladly taken!

The first place we tried that looked like a gathering place turned out to be just a bar.  We had a pair of Cokes, then asked in broken Amharic where to get food.  They pointed us around the corner and down an alley.

We walked through a busy front room and to the back of the restaurant, where two big pots were set on top of fire pits.  A red-tan gravy was simmering in each.  We asked for food, and they said the only thing they had was shiro.  Perfect.

It was the best shiro I had on our entire trip.

Now, what is shiro?  Shiro is, in its barest form, a spiced chickpea-based gloop prepared from a powder.  Jazz it up with spicy berbere (see the root for "pepper" in there?), garlic cloves, jalapenos, ground beef, or spiced Ethiopian butter.  It's a vegetarian staple and I find it really tasty.

For this one, you'll need access to: a) a friend recently returning from Ethiopia, or b) have a store/restaurant with Ethiopian supplies nearby.  Once you get your hands on those, though, this recipe's dead easy.

Shiro

Recipe adapted from epicurious and ethiopianmillennium.com

Serves 2

Total time: 25 minutes

ingredients:

1 roll of injera

1 red onion, grated

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup olive oil or Ethiopian butter

2 garlic cloves, diced

1 jalapeno, sliced lengthwise in half (use 1/4 cup berbere if you can find it)

1 tomato, pureed, or 1/3 cup passata (sieved tomatoes)

1/2 cup shiro powder

1 cup water

directions:

Grate the onion.  You can use a blender for this or a grater.  

Heat a pan.  Add the onion and 1/2 cup of water.  Cook until the water evaporates and the onion starts to color.  

Add the olive oil, garlic and pepper/berbere.  Stir and let cook for 3-5 minutes.

Puree the tomato and add it to the mix.  Careful as the oil may splatter.  Cook another 2 minutes.

Get ready with both shiro powder and water.  Whisk in the shiro powder.  When it is all mixed into the oil, add in water - to your desired consistency.  It should be a very thick gravy, not yet mashed potatoey.  Also keep in mind, it will thicken as it cools.

Line the plate with injera.  Prepare extra injera in rolls to the side.  Best is to have a huge tray on which one large round injera will fit; ours wasn't in the best shape so I cobbled together the flattest pieces to make a lining for my plate.

Spoon the shiro on top.   

Eating: Tear off pieces of injera (half-dollar to palm-sized) and fold them around the shiro in gobs.  Start with the rolls on the side, and work your way to the stuff on the plate, which will soak up the flavor from the shiro while you work.  No silverware necessary!  

You can also probably serve it with rice, pita, sourdough bread, or any other starch.  But, y'know, it won't be the same.  Sorry, my internal Ethio-snob wanted to have the last word!