Is anyone here familiar with the cuisines of the Horn of Africa?

I think these cuisines are becoming more popular. I haven't tried any at all yet, but it looks interesting. I have heard of 'injera bread' which I believe is a flat bread served with different thingies (curries?).

What have you sampled and what would you recommend?

I've always found injera to be like a giant pancake. Tear a bit off and dip in some lentil stew. I do love Ethiopian food as there are plenty of vegetarian recipes.

That's good to know that there are lots of veggie things as my friend and I are looking to eat more veg (about 95 % of our diet is meat, potatoes and rice).

Is Ethiopian (et al) food spicy?

An African guy on Come Dine With Me cooked Jolof rice which I've never heard of before, looked like a spicy tomato risotto kinda thing. I've never tried it though.

Often! But if you're cooking it for yourself, you can adjust to taste. If you can get this-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eragrostis_tef

Teff is gluten-free (and therefore can be consumed by people suffering of gluten-related disorders) and has a high concentration of different nutrients, a very high calcium content, and significant levels of the minerals phosphorus, magnesium, aluminum, iron, copper, zinc, boron and barium, and also of thiamin.

Used to make this-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injera

Flatbread, used as the basis of a lot of traditional food, and for eating it, ie scooping or pinching a bit of wat and eating..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_%28food%29

which is the basic stew/sauce..

Several properties distinguish wats from stews of other cultures. Perhaps the most obvious is an unusual cooking technique: the preparation of a wat begins with chopped onions slow cooked, without any fat or oil, in a dry skillet or pot until much of their moisture has been driven away.

Not sure how unusual that really is as I'd been doing that with onions for years. A wok makes a nice wat-pot Then there's berbere, which is the Ethiopian garam masala or Cajun 'trinity' spice. My local shop sells that, which is how I got introduced to cooking Ethopian & West African food by some nice ladies who took pity on my puzzled look.. And one of the ingredients in berbere is an old one-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruta_graveolens

which I had growing in the garden.. but note the warnings on using that one

^ Spicy is definitely up my street as I'm Asian and love spicy food!

There is an Eritrean restaurant near me which my friend and I are planning to go to soon, possibly this week. I looked at the menu last night and they have:

'MEAT AND VEGETABLE Bebiaynetu: Three vegetarian sauces and two meat stews served on injera with extra injera on the side. (For 2 people) - £16.95'

Sounds like a good option.

Jolof rice is Nigerian/Ghanain. I did go to a Nigerian restaurant many years ago but it was really not very good at all and unfortunately it put me off wanting to sample further W. African cuisine afterwards. Also it seems like they use a lot of dried fish in their dishes, which I cannot stand. I don't even eat fresh fish let alone dried.

That said, I still haven't tried jollof rice and I am sure I would like it (as long as there is no dried fish!) so I would like to try again with W. African food.

You may like to try..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/JustIngredi...6X1AZPJ72EP12D

I tried a couple of different berbere mixes and prefer this one. It's pretty hot, but also has other interesting flavours rather than just burning out your taste buds with chilli. I also use it in some ghee to coat chicken before roasting, or sprinkle some on chicken breasts before grilling. And makes a nice steak seasoning

Amazon also sells tef flour, and it's easy to make injera if you've got a flat, round griddle pan. Kind of a cross between a pancake and a naan bread.

As for jollof rice, try making it. It's simple & tasty, so fry some onions, garlic and maybe a bit of ginger, add fresh tomatoes, or tinned chopped ones make it easier. Add rice & some stock and cook till the rice has absorbed all the juice.. which is the slightly tricky bit to judge liquid to rice amounts. Then add meat, peas, chorizo or whatever takes your fancy, bearing in mind making sure it's cooked/hot.

Had it at an Ethiopian restaurant in Rome many years ago when I lived there and it was bloody lovely! Have made Doro Wat and Injera a few times (although without tef flour) but not for a long time.

Might have to pick up some Tef and berbere and try it again.

I just ordered another 2kg

I'm going to try making some other things with it.. It should make a decent sourdough bread I think, but looks like a kind of flour that would be good for people with gluten issues.

Is the food hearty and spicy?

I looked at a video on YouTube the other day and it showed people at the table eating it and how to eat it traditionally (it's shared between friends, on a big platter with all the stews served together and one tears off small pieces of the injera bread and scoops up the stews).
The food does look hearty and lovely, and as much as one could 'see' the food 'looks' spicy (if that's possible), it looks like it to me. Really interesting and intriguing.

I've bought injera a few times, had it with chicken in tomato sauce. It's a nice alternative to the usual flatbreads/pancakes. I did find myself adding extra sugar to the sauce to counteract the bread's sourness, though.

I had this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66irpICamLw at Borough market the other day, it was fantastic.

See-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8DATNqlvic

I've made that a few times, but tend to leave the eggs out. I think the combo of onions & the tomato paste (for my taste) counters the sour of the bread. But if you want it sweeter, cook it the way you like

I also made some sourdough bloomers out of the teff flour and they turned out nicely. Made some pizza bases from it as well, and a friend who's gluten intolerant liked them.

Looks delicious! (It reminds me of a thing Sri Lankans make called 'bistek' - dry fried beef with onions, but I'll put that in another thread'.

Still haven't been to eat the injera platter but will do soon.