Pressure Cooker, Salad Spinner, and Miser (or Yemisir) Wat w/ Couscous

 

Finally, today, I made two purchases that had been a long time coming:  a salad spinner and a pressure cooker.  I used to tell myself that I liked watered-down dressings, therefore, I didn’t need a spinner.  I also used to wait hours for legumes to cook.  My only regret:  using the automatic release knob for steam.  The stove is a complete mess!  I feel like I saved 5 min. by automatically releasing the pressure but gained an hour’s worth of cleanup time.

I did make some fresh vegetable broth for the couscous; however, what was pressure-cooked was the legumes for the miser wat.  I used merely 1 T. of coconut oil and 1 T. of roasted peanut oil to saute the onions, garlic, and ginger, then added my homemade berbere for the seasoning.  I wanted more peanut flavor but not a lot more oil, so I added 1 T. of roasted peanut oil to the couscous.  That’s at least four servings and less than 1 T. of oil per serving, much better than most Ethiopian restaurants as far as fat content.  Don’t get me wrong, I think some fat is healthy, just not 4 T. per meal.

The wat and the couscous were a great combination.  I love injera, but couscous just sounded delicious to me.  As the late comedian Mitch Hedberg would say with regard to rice, it’s great when you’re hungry and you want two thousand of something. 

Yemisir/Miser Wat

With injera a block away, I couldn’t resist this as my first meal at my new home!

Miser Wat Craze Continues

 

You know what I missed when I was on vacation?  Ethiopian food!  This time, the miser wat is accompanied by Vegan With a Vengeance crepes, and they make a nice pairing, without the headache of making injera that may not turn out.  By the way, I use a cast-iron skillet for the crepes and have no problems with sticking; it’s an excellent recipe.

A Guest Appearance (Miser wat)

So the UK has a new contributor today.  Frank got some of the miser wat that I made, shown here with cilantro rice and flatbread.  It looks amazing to me and he’s got a great camera!

(Recipe for miser wat here:  http://utopiankitchen.wordpress.com/2007/05/23/died-and-gone-to-ethiopia-miser-wat/)

As a (sort of) new vegan, Frank has really impressed me with how quickly he embraced the ethical stance of causing the least harm and also thinking of new ways to cook and eat familiar foods.  Cheers, lad!

Died and Gone to Ethiopia - Miser Wat

 

I found a recipe online that I modified to make what I will call the perfect miser (or yamosir?) wat:

 Spicy red lentil stew (Miser Wat)

4 Tbs. olive oil
1 c. onion, chopped
2 tsp. garlic, chopped
1 Tbs. fresh ginger, minced
2 Tbs. berbere
2 c. split red lentils or masoor dal
4 c. water
1.5 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped tomatoes
1/8 c. red wine

Add lentils and water to a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, adding wine. In a small skillet, saute the onions in the olive oil, until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and saute for another minute. Add the berbere and saute for a few minutes more, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Mix in the chopped tomatoes and simmer for 3 min. Add this mixture to the lentils, along with the salt, and simmer, on low heat, for 20 min.

Serve with injera and a vegetable.

For the Philadelphians, I got the berbere from Kaffa Crossing.

I got a tip from Eat Air on how to make some injera that doesn’t involve the three-day fermentation, and after the last time of trying it and the method not working for me, I gave the yeasted method a shot.  I had to add about a cup more water to the batter, but the bread did work after it was thinned out.  Thanks a lot for your help (their site is www.eatair.blogspot.com).

Meskerem

While in D.C., the Adams Morgan area, we went to Meskerem, an Ethiopian place, that served delicious vegetarian sample platters and also sambussas, the lentil one being my favorite (with potatoes and spice).  I also wrote down my fave Ethiopian dish, so now I can search for the recipe online and make it myself.  Of course, I should probably stop by somewhere and get some injera first (or make crepes, as Sara suggested!) 

The waitresses were really sweet and the service great!

Ethiopian Food…Uh…With Naan!

www.theppk.com (for spicy lentils w/ tomatoes)

Lord Krishna Cuisine (for naan)

www.ivu.org/recipes (for potato/carrot/cabbage/onion mixture)

I tried a recipe from IVU for injera, leaving the bread dough to ferment for at least three days, but I had no luck when it came time to cook the bread.  No Ethiopian restaurant nearby to grab some bread from, either, so I chose to make naan real quick!

The vegetable mixtures were really tasty, all reminding me of dining at Abyssinia, a Philadelphia Ethiopian restaurant in the darling University City area.

Do you think they’d let me back in the kitchen to show me how to make that awesome, spongy bread? 

Dahlak

 

4708 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia, 19143 - (215) 726-6464

This is another place in University City.  I really liked the red, spicy lentil dish, but found the orange one in the middle to be slightly bland.  Frank enjoyed the injera bread more at this place, as it was thinner than we had previously.  The server was wonderful.

Ethiopian Eats in University City

For delicious Ethiopian vegetarian food around 45th and Walnut in Philadelphia, there are a few options.  One I have tried is Abyssinia, and I would highly recommend it.  The servers have been friendly, the food delicious and reasonably priced, and a full-bar awaits if you would like to partake in happy hour.  I love the injera bread and its texture, how it absorbs the spices of the lentil and other legume mixtures.

Abyssinia Restaurant 229 S 45th St Philadelphia, PA 19104

Phone (215) 387-2424