Monday, June 19, 2017

Firfir

Firfir isn't terribly popular with non-Ethiopians/Eritreans, but it has been an all-time breakfast favorite of mine since living in the Horn of Africa. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! This recipe comes compliments of my family longest-serving and much-loved yebayt seretegna, Imawaiyesh.



Firfir

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 medium-large onion (chopped)
4 cloves of garlic (crushed or minced)
1 medium-large Roma tomato
2 tablespoons of berbere*
1/4 teaspoon of garam masala**
Salt (to taste)
1/2 cup of water
1/2 injera***

*Using 1/2 tablespoon will give you a mildly spicy firfir, I prefer something with a little more kick!
**I'm not sure where Imawaiyesh picked up on using garam masala, but it gives a nice little something to the overall flavor of the firfir!
***Normally yesterday's stale injera is used for this, but I've also used the same-day remains of less successful attempts at making my own injera when they were too mangled to do anything else with them. You can also use stale flatbread if you so desire, although the texture and taste won't be as nice as injera.

Directions
1) Lord, bless!
2) In a medium-large pan saute the onion in the olive oil on medium heat until soft.
3) Add the garlic and tomato and saute another couple of minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.
4) Add the spices and saute another minute or two until fragrant.
5) Stir in the water and cover until the sauce begins to boil.
6) Gently stir in small pieces of injera. You want the pieces to absorb the sauce, but not completely disintegrate.
7) Serve as is with a spoon or with fresh injera and enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. This reminds me of chilaquiles. A Mexican breakfast dish where stale tortillas are fried then softened in a sauce. My husband didn't like it at first but now he loves it.

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    1. Ooh! I'd be interested to try that! Although I'm not going to lie, I tried the flatbread version of this recently and was definitely not a fan - the original texture of injera isn't far off from the end product of firfir, whereas using the flatbread the end result sogginess was off-putting.

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  2. Jon, I have a good recipe that I can send you!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! And yeah, I'm not sure I've seen them in my city :-/.

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  3. Though I imagine corn tortillas are impossible to find in china!

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