Eritrea joined the UN May 28th 1993, same day as Monaco.
Eritrean food is only subtly different from Ethiopian food. Or so I'm told. I couldn't tell the difference. Doesn't matter. It's delicious either way.
I was to make the bread, which included hembesha, kitcha, and the spongee, sour, crepe-like injera that the dishes are usually served on. I located some recipes, and then promptly forgot about it until Amber sent out our usual "I so excited about the UN dinner!" text. The day before the dinner I pull out the recipes. Injera requires you to prepare the batter an then let it ferment for up to three days. Oops. Well, one day might be enough, right?
Little did I know how hard it would be to find teff flour in Seattle. Four grocery stores, two hours of googling, and phone call to a fifth store later only produced teff seeds. I could just grind that into the flour, right? Turns out teff seeds are so small my processor just mixed them around and didn't grind, and my mortar and pestle managed to do nothing but make a mess. So I tucked my tail between my legs and texted my friends that I was giving up on injera. Jenny graciously offered to pick up some pre-made injera at an Ethiopian market instead.
I still got everything else together for the kitcha and hembesha and Jenny picked me up to head over the Amber and Bryan's.
With a record 7 people attending the dinner, it was quite a cooking frenzy once everyone got going.As we worked there was a quick discussion on the pronunciation of Eritrea. I admitted that I YouTubed the correct pronunciation, and it reminded me of Sesame Street when they would teach you a new word. "Eritrea. Err-ih-trEEEEE-Yah. Eritrea."
Like Monaco, tears were shed for the onions we were massacring. Some openly, others hiding their shame.
But seriously, there was so much onion in the air I was tearing up and I wasn't even doing any of the chopping.
This was Arjun's first time attending a UN dinner. I did not hide my amusement at his cooking skills, or lack thereof. When it came time to dice the garlic I explained how I found it easiest to remove the husk by taking the flat of the knife and pounding it down over the clove. His first attempt was too gentle, so on the next try he brought his fist down hard and the clove shot out from beneath the knife, narrowly missing Jenny as she worked on her own dish. Arjun decided that this strategy for husk removal might not be for him. I don't blame him.
After shooting for a 6pm dinner the meal was finally ready around 7.
Oh my gosh so good! Again!
So many leftovers! Again!
(Celebrated July 16th, 2016)
