Injera - Ethiopian Flatbread

I don't really know how exactly to describe this.  It's like a spongy sourdough crepe.  I guess that's the best way to explain it.  It's the national bread/carb of Ethiopia, which is the only country that eats that as their staple food, and it's awesome!
We've been to two Ethiopian restaurants so far in our adoption process, so that we can start to get to know the food that our little Josiah is accustomed to, and if you've never had Ethiopian food before, RUN and get some!  It's simple but the flavors are so complex!  It's absolutely delightful!
Of course I can't just limit our Ethiopian food to restaurants because, well, there are none locally, but also because I'm gonna be his Mama, and I need to be able to cook his comfort foods!  So of course I've begun trying to master Ethiopian food at home!  This year, while we're waiting for our newest little guy, we're going to be having a traditional Ethiopian dinner every Sunday...and I'm so excited about that!
Tonight we had some friends over (who had no idea what was on the menu) and they LOVED it!  :)  I wasn't sure I was going to like the injera this time around, but with the rest of the meal it was FABULOUS!  So worth the time and effort!
I wouldn't change a thing about any of the meal tonight!  We had Injera, Doro Wat (chicken stew), Lentil Wat (lentil stew), and Shirro Wat (a stew made out of dried bean powder, which sounds dreadful but was really really good!).

Injera

4 cups warm water (not too hot or it will kill the yeast!)
2 cups teff flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat or all purpose flour
2 tsp yeast

***Injera takes a few days to prepare as it needs to ferment!!!***
      You can do it overnight and it's ok, but it's best if it can sit for 3 nights

Directions:
1.  Whisk all of the ingredients into a large glass or plastic bowl (NOT METAL!) until fully combined.  This will be a thin batter, not a thick dough!

2.  Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and sit on the counter for 3 full nights (don't move the bowl around!).  You want to make sure that there is lots of space between the injera mix and the plastic wrap so that it can work it's magic!

3.  After the third night, about a half hour before you are going to cook, place the fermented mixture into a blender and add about 1/4 cup warm water and blend for a minute or so.  Let rest for about 30 minutes.

4.  When ready to cook, heat a 12" skillet over medium high heat until good and hot.  Add about 1/3 cup of the injera batter to the pan and while holding the pan, turn your wrist so that it spreads out evenly over the bottom of the pan (it will be pretty thin like a crepe, not thick like a pancake!).  Put the lid on and cook for about 2-3 minutes until the edges start to curl upwards.  Remove the injera from the heat and allow to cool.

5.  Continue with the remaining injera batter.  When they are cool to the touch, roll them up and serve alongside the veggies and meat stews!

Now, I know...typically in Ethiopia they would take a very large platter and cover it with a large 20" around size piece of injera and then place the different stews all around it and everyone would share it...but we don't have a giant skillet, and so I just serve it this way :)  But, the rule is, NO FORKS!  Ethiopians don't use silverware, they use the injera as both a carb to fill their bellies and as their silverware.  You break off bite-size pieces of injera and use it to scoop up or grab little handfuls of stew.  It's SO good! 

Healthier Cheddar Onion Cornbread

So I wanted to try cheddar jalapeno cornbread, but for one, I didn't have jalapenos!  For two, I wanted to try to make it a bit healthier.
Last night I made my typical cornbread recipe but I used all whole-wheat flour and lowered the sugar from 1/3 cup to 1/4 cup.  It was still awesome!
So, I decided this time to try to substitute out the shortening.  I used natural, unsweetened applesauce in it's place.  I lowered the sugar to about 1/5 of a cup but would have probably tried even less than that if I had decided on the applesauce BEFORE I added the sugar in!  :)
I didn't want to take any chances of tasting the apple in there, so I added a small handful of chopped green onions in too.  Then, I compared the cheese label to the shortening label and saw that even regular cheddar is still so much less fat and calories than shortening, that I didn't feel guilty adding in a big handful of cheddar (I actually used a blend of cheddar and low-fat cheddar).

Red lentils with onion and garlic

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups uncooked red lentils, rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
• 12 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 6 cups cooked brown Basmati rice

Method: 

Put lentils, turmeric and 4 cups water into a medium pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are very soft and pulpy, about 25 minutes. Add salt to lentils after cooking, then purée in blender and set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until golden brown, taking care not to burn them. Add onion mixture to lentils and stir well. Serve hot, with basmati rice on the side.

Red Lentil Soup ("Mercemek")

This is an awesome Turkish recipe that my neighbor gave to me!  It's awesome!  And hopefully our new little one will love it when we bring him home!

Ingredients:
2 cups red lentils
1 chopped onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups vegetable broth (or chicken)
2 cups water
1 cubed potato
1 chopped carrot
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper

Directions:
1.  In large pot, saute red lentils and onion in olive oil.
2.  Add broth, water, and rest of ingredients to pot.  Bring to a boil, turn heat down, and simmer for about 45 minutes or until lentils are soft.
3.  Puree soup with hand blender or stand blender.
4.  Pour into serving bowls and add a splash of lemon juice to each bowl.

Mona's Awesome Chicken Stuff :)

Another great recipe!

Depending on how much your making you need at least 2-3 cans of cream of mushroom soup (or cream soup).  Prehaeat oven to 325.  Sprinkle salt and garlic on thawed chicken breasts.  Heat frying pan, add oil and place 4 to 6 chicken breasts (I used boneless) in pan.  Brown the chicken til you no longer have raw meat on the outside of the chicken. 
Remove chicken from pan and and add 1 cup of onion, fry for a few minutes, then add 1 cup of white wine (you do not have to do this, but I think it gives it a richer flavor, so if you don't have the wine you can skip this).  Stir in pan and let this simmer for about 7 mins.  You're also trying to pick up all the flavor of the chicken that has been left in the pan.  Next add your cream soup along w/about 1-2 Cups chicken broth (or water, but better flavor w/broth) depending on how many cans of soup your using and how thick you would like your gravy.  Mix soup in w/mixture and allow to simmer.  Place chicken in baking pan and pour mixture over chicken.  Bake at least 30 minutes, covered.  Serve over pasta, rice or potatoes. 

Karen's Potato Salad

This was the yummiest potato salad I've ever had!

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup Hellmann's mayonnaise
2 T white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt (good Kosher or sea salt is best!)
1 tsp sugar
pepper to taste and generous amount of parsley
onion, finely chopped
celery, chopped to preference
potatoes - reds or whites chopped to prefer size

I usually make enough that I need a double batch of the dressing!

Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes

Ingredients:

8 oz semisweet mini chocolate chips
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
12 small Peppermint Patties

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.  Place chocolate and butter in medium bowl and microwave for 30 seconds.  Stir.  Repeat with 20 second intervals in the microwave, stirring after each, until fully melted.  Whisk together.

2.  Whisk in sugar and salt until mixture is smooth; whisk in eggs to combine.  Gently whisk in flour and cocoa just until smooth (do not overmix).

3.  Spoon 1 Tbsp of batter into each lined cup.  Place 1 peppermint patty into each dollop of batter, gently pressing into batter.  Top with 2 more Tbsp of batter, covering patty completely.  Smooth batter if needed.  Bake, rotating tin halfway through baking time until a cake tester inserted half-way into centers comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes.