Injera II

Injera, a spongy crepe-like bread (slightly sour), is almost always eaten with Ethiopian stews. If you've been to an Ethiopian Restaurant, they probably used the injera as both plate and utensils. The injera are layered on aRound table and the stews are piled on top - then more injera are used to scoop up and eat the stew. And of course once the stew is gone the injera underneath it are suffused with all the yummy juices. It takes a while to cook up each injera but it'sReally easy.


 * Ethiopian Flat Bread (Injera) - makes 15-20 12-inch injera (from Schlabach)

Ingredients

 * 3 cup self-rising flour
 * ½ cup whole wheat flour
 * ½ cup cornmeal, or masa harina
 * 1 tbsp active dry yeast, (one package)
 * 3½ cup warm water

Directions

 * 1) In a large bowl, mix the above ingredients.
 * 2) Let set in large bowl, covered, an hour or longer, until batter rises and becomes stretchy. It can sit as long as 3–6 hours.
 * 3) When ready, stir batter if liquid has settled on bottom.
 * 4) Then whip in blender, 2 cups of batter at a time, thinning it with ½ - ¾ cup water. Batter will be quite thin.
 * 5) Cook in non-stick frypan without oil over medium or medium-high heat.
 * 6) Use ½ cup batter per injera for a 12-inch pan or ⅓ cup batter for a 10-inch pan.
 * 7) Pour batter in heated pan and quickly swirl pan to spread batter as thin as possible.
 * 8) Batter should be no thicker than ⅛-inch. Do not turn over. Injera does not easily stick or burn. It is cooked through when bubbles appear all over the top.
 * 9) Lay each injera on a clean towel for a minute or two, then stack in covered dish to keep warm.
 * 10) Finished injera will be thicker than a crepe, but thinner than a pancake.
 * 11) To serve, overlap a few injera on a platter and place stews on top (I think most kinds of spicy bean or veggie stews/curries would be great with this. For Ethiopian food, the spicier the better).
 * 12) Or lay one injera on each dinner plate, and ladle stew servings on top.
 * 13) Give each person three or more injera, rolled up or folded in quarters, to use for scooping up the stews.
 * 14) I calculated that if you make 15 x 12-inch injeras, each would be about 120.
 * 15) (Teff is a kind of millet) and reduce the whole wheat flour to ¼ cup.