Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ut-sally.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!ut-sally!riddle From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) Newsgroups: net.cooks Subject: Re: Ethiopian food (How hot is hot?) Message-ID: <2971@ut-sally.UUCP> Date: Mon, 6-Aug-84 12:13:01 EDT Article-I.D.: ut-sally.2971 Posted: Mon Aug 6 12:13:01 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 8-Aug-84 00:29:37 EDT References: <204@bolton.UUCP> <12000005@smu.UUCP> <2879@ut-sally.UUCP> <2929@ut-sally.UUCP> Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills Lines: 60 Here are some more descriptions of Ethiopian food. Sounds great! ------- I recently was at Jarra's Ethiopian Restaurant in Portland, Oregon. It was my first visit to an Ethiopian restaurant, and I don't remember any of the names for the dishes; but, I will try to describe them for you. For main dishes, they offered one lamb (mild), one beef (hot), one chicken (mild), one lentil (hot), one ground beef (hot), and three or four combinations of main dishes. With the main dishes, we had a choice of vegetables (cottage cheese, lettuce with tomatoes, and potatoes). We didn't try the lamb or chicken (we were there mainly to test out how hot the hot food was). We got the beef and ground beef combinations that included all of the vegetables and some lentils. The beef were strips that were cooked in a very dark brown, thick sauce, and it was very good. The potatoes looked and tasted like vegetable stew. The lentils were like a thick paste -- unimpressive to me. The ground beef was by far the best and the hottest. It was offered either tartare or medium rare, and we had medium rare. The cook complimented us on our courage for ordering the ground beef -- it was chance, not courage. We each got one large plate with everything (including the cottage cheese) on it in little piles. The main reason the cook came out was to tell us how to eat the food (it is a very small restaurant, and he came out to each of the tables). There was no silverware offered. There was a plate of bread (sponge-like on one side and smooth on the other). We were to tear off portions of the bread, roll them into cones, and scoop up the food. We had to order more bread, so I think we tore off too large of pieces. My SO didn't care much for the ground beef -- he said it was uncomfortably hot -- but, I thought it was great. Unfortunately, I had ordered the beef strips, and was too full to eat much more. Carlene Godfrey tektronix!tekfdi!carleneg@ ------- All I can tell you about is my experience at one (the only) Ethiopian restaurant in Boston. The owner claims that she "is not as good a cook as her mother", but the food was good enough to warrant a second trip. The food served there is hot, but not blistering; I felt pleasantly warmed after eating it. Like Indian cooking, Ethiopian seems to use many different spices, but I would describe it as richer. Most of the dishes we tried seemed to contain butter or oil (possibly palm oil?). There are no utensils at the table. Instead, you tear off a piece of the bread that is served alongside, fold it around a bite of food, and pop it in your mouth. The bread is flat, although slightly risen, and baked only enough to set it -- it has no crust, and resembles a bubbly crepe. The menu listed both meat and vegetable dishes. The latter included a grain dish something like couscous and a thick lentil stew. Andy Behrens UUCP: {astrovax,dalcs,decvax,cornell,linus}!dartvax!andyb