Messeret Mulualme

Ethiopian Recipes Made Easy Messeret Mulualme

INTRODUCTIONThe open-air market of Addis Ababa is the largest and most exciting in the entire continent of Africa. The market takes you back to a time long forgotten, a place unimaginable in the western world or the western mind, and it stretches for miles and miles: the market (merkato) has everything on display, from clothing and house ware to electronics, and let's not forget about the food! Women sit cross-legged on the ground with tiny scales to measure spices for the "wat" (stew) cooked in mostly every Ethiopian home. Grains called "Teff" in huges bags are ready for the housewife's kitchen helpers to make injera, unleavened bread which is prepared today as it was a thousand years ago. The small tables are full of citrus fruits, bananas, grapes, pomegranates, figs, custard apples, and vegetable, of all varieties. This includes the wonderful red onion of this region, and gomen, a kale-like plant (greens), used in alechi.