ETHIOPIAN dinner at my house Saturday!!!!

[divaindubai]

Nurselady...

You are right about eating as a communal on large plates of food where everyone shares...

You see that a lot during Ramadan here in the Muslim countries, right when the fast breaks (at night time) people are in the streets at the sides of cafe's eating their hearts out with their friends and families.....and of course people are also inside at friends and family's houses eating hearts content too...

It definitely is a way to bond with others !

:nod

[Heidi3]

Nurselady...

You are right about eating as a communal on large plates of food where everyone shares...

You see that a lot during Ramadan here in the Muslim countries, right when the fast breaks (at night time) people are in the streets at the sides of cafe's eating their hearts out with their friends and families.....and of course people are also inside at friends and family's houses eating hearts content too...

It definitely is a way to bond with others !

:nod

we do not do enough I am going to have all our dinners like this for a while it really changed my spirit a bit ....I never felt so close to my friends as I did serving them and watching them enjoy what I had done ....I cook with my heart to be honest and everyone sharing mades it perfection!!!!..and totally saved on dishes and utensils we ate everything but the platters!!!! :joy

[divaindubai]

That is really a good way of looking at eating and cooking! Just curious to know how you got introduced to Ethipian type of foods? Not your common everyday food in North America ensive

My husband and I had guests from Australia over for dinner a few weeks back, and we ordered some Palestinian food from this famous restaurant here, and my husband at first apologized to them for eating with his hands, because the one dish was on a huge platter (Arabic bread deep fried in the red spice (simiac) (sp??) with onions and pinenuts I believe) and its hard to cut pieces of bread to eat, so its easier ripping it off with your hands.

Then our Australian friends decided they were going to eat with their hands, and they starting apologizing lol

in the end everyone was eating with their hands and sharing in the foods.

[Heidi3]

I live and work in a very diverse area.You can literally eat your way around the world between VanCouver BC, Seattle WA and Portland Or (they have the best Mexican food in the world in Portland I swear!!!)...but I digress.....there is lots of good Ethiopian food in Seattle!.I diid learn to eat with my hands quite a few years ago..it is kind of an art to do it with out dumping!!!.. and when it comes to food and cooking.. I have no shame I ask people for recipes and how to make dishes wherever I am.....Persian food is another favorite and now that all my herbs have come to live I am about to embark on more complex Persian dishes...and we will be eating them communally on the floor :joy :joy :joy ..what about you....any good low carb recipes to share? You enjoy food do you like to cook as well? :hug

[divaindubai]

Hey Nurselady!

I actually grew up in Vancouver, BC, so yeah I have to agree it is quite multicultural, and even Seattle is too! Now that you reminded me...

We cook lots of things here, for instance, here in this part of the world, as you probably know, they use a lot of yogurt (even from camel's milk lol but haven't tried anything that wild yet...) and I have been soaking my whole chickens in yogurt and that red spice (samiac) for a few hours, then we have a rotisserie thing in our oven, so then I cook the chicken on that...its really delicious. I made it for dinner last weekend (friday) and I had salad with my dinner and the rest of the family had theirs with rice and arabic bread.

That's just one example of something I have been cooking.

[Heidi3]

it finally hit me you are in the United Arab Emirates (did I spell that right)....no wonder you have camel yogurt and sumac ...that is what we call the sour spice from dried tarte berries (same thing?)...I go up and shop in Vancouver about every other month! I love it there ...I am half Canadian my dad is a Middle Eastern Jew from Montreal...I have family in North Vancouver..
I love my Canadian Roots!!!...welcome!! :hug

[seeking_susan]

It was fun to see this thread. A few weeks ago I had this huge craving for Ethiopian food (there are many Ethiopian restaurants in the DC metropolitan area), which I had been doing without because of the injera, when I thought: takeout! No need to be embarrassed about eating it with a fork in the privacy of one's own home. So the rest of my family had injera while I concentrated on the kitfo-- my favorite.

[Heidi3]

seeeeeee!!!!! susan has the idea!!!! and no no embarassment with using a fork!!!! but your hands are more fun!!! that is why I used the lettuce!!!!!...... :icondance :icondance :icondance most Ethiopian dishes are not high carb for real!!! check them out ....even the lentils on the legume rung are fine!!! they do not use sugar in the cooking and rice is not a staple so the stews and salads are great for this kind of eating!!!!

go back and look at the recipe for the spiced butter i have been using it to cook veggies and eggs that are not Ethiopian but are totally enhanced by the flavors...such a nice change from regular butter or oil!!!! also the beri beri is great sauce when you have something you want to dip!

[Miss Phode]

You guys are killing me! My favorite stuff to eat at the Ethiopian restaurant I used to frequent up north were the lentils, potatoes, greens, injera, etc. I never liked the meat, and now I'm having wicked cravings for Ethiopian! No fair!!!! It's a good thing I'm 1264.7 miles away from a decent Ethiopian Restaurant!

[Heidi3]

:sympathy :sympathy :sympathy