My Birthday Party – Part 1 – Let’s Get This Party Started

Yet another successful party is officially in the books. I was busy cooking and prepping all morning for our Ethiopian feast, aka my birthday party. Most everything needed to be cooked al minute, and I couldn’t cook too much ahead of time. But I had a lot of prep work to do. Because I am very fast and efficient in the kitchen, all this prep work only took about 3 1/2 hours. I made a large menu and was cooking for 23 people, so there was a lot of food and a lot of prep work. But I got it all done in good time. Because I couldn’t really make too much in advance, I literally was using up all my big bowls and pots to hold all my prepped ingredients. 🙂

Almost everything I made came from the cookbook I am holding, Enebla, by Luladey Moges. It is an Ethiopian cookbook given to me by Julia. Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa, surrounded by Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen and Eritrea. It is considered the epicenter of civilization. Ethiopians believe in big get-togethers with friends, family and community. These get-togethers always involve an abundance of food and a wide variety of foods too. Food is the center of all gatherings; same as it is at my house too. HMMMMM! I am picking up on a theme here. I too invite everyone over, and will find or make up any excuse to celebrate and get together, and I too ALWAYS have an abundance of and a wide variety of food. 🙂

The name of the cookbook, Enebla means “let’s eat”. The term enebla is also used as an invitation to others to join you in your celebrations of and with food. Ethiopians like to eat in large groups, making it very hard to just cook for one or two. Again, something I can relate to.

I made my batter 4 days in advance, and followed the recipe. I know, something I don’t do particularly well. 🙂 The batter had to have two fermentations. When is it is ready, it will resemble a crepe batter, and unless you have a special Ethiopian injera maker, which most people do not, it is made in large skillets, like a crepe as well.

Injera Bread

You can’t eat Ethiopian food without injera bread. It is like Mexican food without tortillas. It just can’t be done. The traditional eating style for Ethiopians is to eat with their hands. Injera bread is the scoop that helps pick everything up.

The Starter

1 cup teff flour

1 cup warm water

1/4 tsp yeast

Mix everything together, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and let set and ferment for 3 days.

After 3 days, there will be a build up of water. Pour off the excess water then make the batter.

The Batter

6 cups teff flour, NOT seeds

1 tsp ground fenugreek

2 cups water

sparkling water, optional

the starter

I could not find fenugreek at all, so of course I improvised. It’s just what I do. Julia said she would have been surprised if I had actually followed the recipe completely. 🙂 I found out what the qualities of fenugreek were, and kind of made my own. I used some of the Ethiopian spices Julia had given me and 3 TBSP of maple syrup.

Once everything was mixed together, I wrapped it in plastic again and let it ferment once again, for another day.

Julia and Bruce came over early and Julia helped me make the injera bread, since I have to admit, I was a little intimidated by making it and Julia knew exactly what she was doing. Usually I am fearless, especially in the kitchen, but when I am entertaining for a large crowd, and I making something completely foreign to me, every now and then I like a little help from people in the know. Julia is certainly someone in the know. She loves to cook all kinds of interesting and exotic foods just like I do. In fact, the first time I ever ate Ethiopian food was with Julia. http://retirementrvdream.com/2025/02/23/jeannes-birthday-party/ She said my batter looked exactly how it was supposed to look, even though I got teff seeds instead of teff flour. But we made it work but adding about a cup of flour to the mix, and no one was the wiser; until I fessed up and told people. I admit and own up to my mistakes, even it it takes me a while. 🙂 Teff is a very small, tiny ancient grain native to East Africa.

I lovingly put Julia to work, and you can see it in her smile, she was happy to help too. She made the injera bread, and when they were done, I rolled and cut them. We make a good team. 🙂

Once we got the injera bread made, it was time for me to start the actual cooking of all the rest of the food. That was easy since I had everything all done and ready to go ahead of time.

Everyone else came around 5:00 PM, and it was time to party. 🙂

We had a great time and everyone had a lot of fun. Life is short, make the most out of everyday, since everyday is a gift. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.