This was a fun meal!

[Jenise]

So instead of the placemat, each diner got a sheet of parchment and a large round flat bread I bought at a Persian market in Kansas City.

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Table Setting

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Next, we passed a lot of dishes of food, like the carrot and orange salad with bergamot vinaigrette and whole coriander, Ethiopian chicken wot, kala jeera rice topped with sauteed baby black kale, green cabbage fried with green mango pickle, roasted olives, aloo gobi, kidney bean salad, arugula and papaya salad and I can't recall what else.

Carrot and Orange salad

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Dehydrated Okra

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Then we ate everything, including the 'plate'.

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[Carrie L.]

I love it! That's a great idea. I'll bet your guests loved it.
You know, we had an Ethiopian theme for our last book club and I made Chicken Doro Wat. Had never had it before. Spicy (wow!) but really good.

[Matilda L]

We had a meal at an Ethiopian restaurant on the other side of town a while back now. The flatbread they served there was like a crumpet, slightly rubbery and with little holes in it. We must go back there. This post reminded me.

[Jenise]

We had a meal at an Ethiopian restaurant on the other side of town a while back now. The flatbread they served there was like a crumpet, slightly rubbery and with little holes in it. We must go back there. This post reminded me.

Yes, that's the typical Ethiopian bread. Very crumpet-like--and usually an almost eerie shade of pure white. The name starts with an 'i', I think, might be two syllables, but I can't remember it.

[Jenise]

Injera!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injera

[Carrie L.]

Injera!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Injera

I made that too! They are like pancakes. Very easy. Delicious, right off the skillet.

[Frank Deis]

I have been thinking about cooking Ethiopian and one thing that occurred to me is, that maybe I could buy take-out injeera bread from a local restaurant. We have a really good Ethiopian restaurant in New Brunswick -- Makeda. I have the impression it's hard to make It well at home.

[Jenise]

Frank, I made them once with my roommate's Aunt Hrip (not a typo, pronounced her-RIP) who grew up in Ethiopia. They were easy enough to make--just needed her experience, real teff flour, patience, plus a good griddle. Pretty much like making a breakfast pancake. Hers were thicker and smaller in size than what you see in the Wiki--think salad plate vs. dinner plate plus--and very very white because she used the authentic flour. What would be truer than saying "it's hard to make at home" is that it's not easy to duplicate what you might get in an Ethiopian restaurant because it's hard to find teff, and other flours you would substitute won't get set up as well or get that exact cool, rubbery texture.

Carrie, what did you make yours out of?

[Carrie L.]

Carrie, what did you make yours out of?

I'll have to look for the recipe, but I know it had whole wheat flour, white flour and club soda.