Some Call it "Fusion," I Call it Cleaning out the Fridge

Cooking this Week -- Saturday Dessert for Friends and Doro Wat on Mac 'N Cha

Saturday I cooked and I didn't. I promise to write about the cooking class I finished this week, but I thought I'd dash this off first. We made an Orange Souffle dessert on the last day. It was not baked, but frozen with the usual eggs, whipped cream, but Grand Marnier for the orange flavor. It is a little fussy, the difficult part is converting oranges into serving cups. Some friends invited us over for an ice cream social, so I thought -- what the hell? I've made it in class, we had the Grand Marnier. So I did and it was a hit. What I didn't do was pipe the whipped cream, but the taste was good. Although this was my only real cooking of the day, I'd rather talk about an accidental discovery.

I've been haunted by the leftover Doro Wat (Ethiopian Chicken Stew). It was too time consuming and delicious to throw out, but it didn't seem right to serve without injera. I haven't figured out making injera. Lunch was going to be Mac n' cheese, then I realized -- we didn't have any chili in the house. Cheap Hormel Chili is my favorite method for livening up the Mini Chef's bland favorite. Would the Doro Wat might make a good substitute? I missed the absence of beans, but the incredible richness of flavor made up of it. Consider "seasoning" macaroni and cheese with: spiced butter, onions, garlic, ginger, berbere, fenugreek, dry mustard, cumin, basil, turmeric and the Mekellesha spice mixture (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, allspice). Oh, and a dash of salt. It's a little absurd, but was very tasty.

Cooking this week -- Saturday Ethiopian Night

I've been in a cooking class these past two weeks. More on that later. I've been writing some, but not posting so things are getting stale around here. To keep things fresh I've decided to post some of the recent (home) cooking forays with comments and links.

Saturday -- Ethiopian night

Ethiopian style spiced butter (Niter Kebbeh). This is nice to have around as a flavorful fat base for East African dishes. Melt butter, remove foamy milk solids. Add chopped onion, and garlic. When translucent add cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, fenugreek and strain through cheese cloth. It keeps well so if you intend to cook a few Ethiopian dishes, I recommend making a couple pounds of butter and storing in the fridge. Getting the milk solids out is tedious work so make an amount that makes it worthwhile. For recipe details click here.

Saturday -- Doro Wat (Ethiopian Chicken stew) This recipe calls for the spiced butter above. I've had numerous versions of this in Ethiopian restaurants, but Elizabeth and I call it the "mother daughter combo" because it is served on injera with a chicken leg and a hard boiled egg along with side dishes (a vegetable stew alecha, yogurt, and yellow lentil stew).

Marinate chicken in lemon or lime juice. Add onions, garlic and spices including berere to the Niter Kebbeh. Don't go crazy with Niter Kebbeh, it is flavor, but it is also fat and your sauce will be very greasy if you overdo it. After a few minutes add chicken thighs and or drumsticks and just enough water to cover chicken. Reduce on medium heat for 30 minutes. For a detailed recipe click here.

Whenever cooking Ethiopian, injera is crucial. I got brown barley pancakes from my first effort making it myself. Not the thin spongy doughy injera I've come to love. I have a little teff flour and tried a recipe so vague I had to make a lot of guesses. There are places nearby that sell it, but Elizabeth was warping a loom so it was a bad time to interrupt.

My cooking class is helping my chopping and all-around cooking speed, but this just isn't a quick meal. It was fun and gave the house an exotic restaurant smell. To do the dish Doro Wat justice, don't skimp on the berbere. If you have little ones, you may want to have some other options for their dinner unless they have a high heat and spice tolerance.