Some of Amelia’s observations on her recent recce to Ethiopia

The local bread in Ethiopia is called Injera.  It looks like carpet underlay and comes in grey or light brown with a slightly springy foam texture to it.  Normally it comes rolled up like a pancake or folded like a tablecloth.  You then tear off bits with your right hand (only) and dip it into a variety of sauces and stews which come in little piles on a big round dish.  These are normally made up of curds and goat and can be eye wateringly hot and spicy.  The grain used to make the bread is called tef and is made into flour, mixed with water, and fermented which gives it a slightly sour flavour.  It is baked on a metal disc over a fire in every house and hut across the country – everyone has a place for injera.  I have to say I quite like it, and I shall be seeking out a little Ethiopian restaurant in Brixton that does the best injera in London soon.  However I think my favourite bread is farashe as made by the Bedu in the Sinai in Egypt. It’s made with wheat flour and patted into small balls, then rolled out and stretched very thinly over a curved metal disc over a fire.  Two minutes and it’s bubbling and curling up at the edges and it’s done.  It tastes a bit like a naan but better. The tuareg of Libya and Algeria make a bread known as Leba which is made from a fine flour, mixed with water and beaten out into a circle a couple of inches thick.
It’s then laid out onto a hollowed out area of sand and a carpet of hot coals is piled on top of it with a stick where it stays for half an hour before being turned over to do the other side. Once finished the end result is lifted up and beaten with a stick to get the sand off it. Sometimes caraway seeds are sprinkled into the dough to give it a subtle aniseed flavour and it is so delicious hot, fresh, and torn apart to enjoy with a glass of mint tea under the stars in the desert. The tuareg in Libya and Algeria love to break the bread up into tiny pieces (a painstaking task) and then make a gloopy meat stew which the bread is added to, but I prefer it on its own.