Step-By-Step Injera Instructions- The Real Thing!

Get out your sourdough starter and your mitad because it's time to make injera!

Warning: This seems complicated, but after you've done it once or twice, it will become much easier. So don't give up!

After trying and failing to make injera for about a year, I finally was blessed with an Ethiopian woman, Abeba, who has become a very dear friend. Abeba is a wonderful cook and has spent quite a bit of time with me helping me to make injera the way Ethiopians in America make it.

I've made enough successful batches of injera that I now feel comfortable sharing it with my readers. I will give written step-by-step instructions. For the visual learners, I have also uploaded videos demonstrating each step. As people begin their own experimenting with injera, I really hope you'll share your tips, as I have learned so much from other people's successes and mistakes alike. Good luck and don't give up! It might not work the first time, but even Ethiopians don't often get it right on the first try! :) Note: This is how the process works in America. I know that it is affected by altitude, quality of teff, and temperature. So, it may take some experimenting in order to get this to work in other places. For that matter, it may take some experimenting in some of the higher elevation places in America. This is NOT the same process that Ethiopians use in Ethiopia. This is the process that Ethiopians have adapted in order to make injera in America.

1. You need to start with a good strong starter. Click here if you don't know how to make a starter. All of the information contained in this post regarding making your starter is good, accurate information. There are also lots of ways to get a starter going that are quicker (and less smelly) than this method which relies on wild yeast found in the air. You can use a commercial yeast. Or you can even buy a starter from some bakeries. Since I haven't done it these other ways, I don't know how it works. But there is a wealth of information about sourdough starters on the internet. If you are using the "wild yeast" method, you'll need to give your starter at least 2 weeks to build up it's strength. The good news is that once you have a strong starter, as long as you take good care of it, you'll never have to make another one.

2. If your starter (lit in Amharic) is made of any grain other than teff, you'll need to convert it to a teff starter first. This only takes 2 feedings prior to actually starting the process of making injera. I believe it's detailed in the post about making a starter. By doing 2 feedings prior to the actual process, the injera will have more of the sour teff flavor that it's supposed to have.

3. Injera is a 3-step-process. About 8-12 hours is required between each step. I usually do step 1 at night before I go to bed. Then I do step 2 when I wake up the next morning. Then I am ready to cook the injera in the mid-afternoon.

Click here to see a video demonstrating all of the items/ingredients you will need to cook injera.
mitad
lid for mitad
sourdough starter
blender
sifter or metal strainer
at least 2 plastic containers
teff
self-rising flour
luke-warm water
bed sheet
something large and flat to remove injera from mitad


Step 1 (The Night Before)

Click here for a video showing the kneading step.
Click here for a video showing the "thinning out" step.

You will need your teff starter. If any liquid has gathered on the top, pour it into the sink. Usually, there will be a dark blackish liquid if you've kept it in the refrigerator. This is okay. But you don't want it mixed in.

I'm sure that with some experimenting, the amounts that I will give can be changed and altered depending on your personal tastes. Just as in America some people prefer whole grain bread, or wheat bread, or rye, or white, injera is a matter of personal preference as well. The amounts I will give produce a medium-dark injera. Most restaurants I've been to serve a more white injera. Most Ethiopians I know prefer to eat the darker injera. Experiment to find what your family likes best. This recipe will make about 10 16 inch injeras.

Start with 2 cups of starter. Mix in 2 cups of teff. The mixture will start out crumbly. You will need to knead (mopkwat) the starter (lit) ALOT!!! The more you knead it, the better the injera will be. If your arm starts hurting, you're doing a good job! As you continue to knead, the dough will become a solid ball. This is good. Knead it for at least 10 minutes. After you've done that, you'll need to begin adding luke-warm water just a little at a time. Add 1/4 cup water at a time, then knead the mixture some more. Once the water is thoroughly mixed in, add another 1/4 cup. Continue doing this until the mixture has become quite thin and watery. The test is to put your hand in, then pull it out. You'll know the consistency is right when the batter slips quickly off your hand, leaving behind just a thin residue of the batter.

Cover the starter with a lid and let it sit on your counter overnight. Go to bed! :)

Step 2 (The Next Morning)

Click here for a video showing the "blending the teff starter" step
Click here for a video showing the "self-rising flour" step

When you wake up in the morning, you will probably see a 3 layered starter (if you have a clear container that is!). The bottom layer will be the tallest layer consisting of injera starter. The middle layer will be a very thin layer of liquid. And the top layer will be another layer of injera starter. This is good. If yours doesn't look like this, just keep going anyway because even if it doesn't turn out good, you'll learn from the experimenting process.

You will need to use a blender for this step. My Ethiopian friend who taught me to make injera said that it must be a blender. She has tried using a food processor and her injera didn't work. So, I've done as she said, and I've been successful.

You will need to gently stir up the injera starter. After you've stirred it, SAVE 1 OR 2 CUPS FOR THE NEXT TIME YOU MAKE INJERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You will be most upset if you accidentally use all of your starter and don't have any left! Trust me on this one. I'm speaking from personal experience! :) Store the starter in the refrigerator up to a month at a time. It's probably better to pull it out once a week and give it a regular feeding of water and flour, but you can get by with a month. It just might take 2-3 feedings to get it built back up in strength before making injera if you wait that long.

1 cup at a time, you need to blend the starter in the blender. The goal is to get rid of the gritty feel. Alternate settings on the blender. After maybe a minute, rub some of the starter between your fingers. If it feels smooth with only a very slight amount of grit, then it's done. Pour the starter into a clean plastic container after you've blended it up.

Next, you need 3 cups of self-rising flour. Add warm water to it and mix with your hand. The consistency needs to be soupy. After you do this, you'll need to blend it up just like you did the teff starter. It doesn't take as long in the blender though. The goal of this step is to get the mixture smooth and free of lumps of flour. Just as with the teff starter, you'll want to blend it up about 1 cup at a time. When finished, pour it into the container along with the teff starter.

Next, use your hand to thoroughly mix the two mixtures together. The final consistency needs to be thin and watery and soupy. Again, the test is to dip your hand in. If the mixture slides off quickly and leaves a thin residue, the consistency is right. If the consistency doesn't seem right, you can thoroughly mix in more water a little bit at a time until it is right.

Cover it with a lid and let it sit on the counter. Check on it every hour or so. You will notice that the mixture will begin to rise. This is good. In fact, the more it rises, the better the injera will be. Once the rising subsides and the mixture begins to settle back down, put it in the refrigerator for 45 minutes- 1 hour.

Step 3 (The Afternoon)

Click here for a video showing the cooking step

By the time you put it in the refrigerator, it will be the afternoon (unless you sleep in really late, in which case, your injera probably won't work because too much time will have passed between the steps!)

After the mixture has been in the refrigerator for about 1 hour, it is ready to cook!

Unfortunately, the video I made of the first 3 injeras that I cooked was too long for youtube.com by about 30 seconds! So, I am not able to show the consistency of the injera batter. It should be thin and watery. Just a little thicker than batter for crepes. If it's too thick, it doesn't spread out on the mitad very good.

Heat up your mitad to the highest setting, just slightly above 500 degrees. Each mitad is slightly different, depending on age, heating coil, etc. So you may need to experiment with the temperature. On my Ethiopian friend Abeba's mitad, she uses about 475 degree heat. I have to use 500 degree heat. We have the exact same mitad, but they were purchased at different times.

Once the mitad is good and hot (this takes a little while), you need to sprinkle about 1/2-1 tsp. salt on the surface. Using a damp, clean cloth, rub the salt into the mitad in a circular motion. You must do this after every few injeras. It aids in achieving the ain (bubbles) in the injera. But salt isn't good for the Teflon coating, so try to only use it as needed so that your mitad will last longer. NEVER use oil on the surface!!!!! I read that oil permanently adheres to and changes the properties in the Teflon. I use my mitad only for injera. Never anything else.

Once you have salted the mitad, gently stir the injera batter to get it mixed up and pour approximately 1 cup of the starter onto the hot mitad. In Ethiopia, injera is made by pouring in concentric circles working toward the middle. In America, this method does not work. It produces a very thick injera. Perhaps this has to do with altitude? I don't really know. But I do know what works!

Your pour the starter onto the mitad then pick it up and shake it gently in order to get the starter spread out over the entire surface of the mitad. You may notice the ain starting to appear. This is good. Cover it with the lid. Once steam starts pouring out of the small vent in the mitad, lift the lid just a little to check on the injera. If it has started to lift up a little bit around the edges, it is ready to come off.

If you cook injera too long, it becomes soggy and gummy, as the steam is trapped inside.

Removing the injera is tricky. Well, it's been tricky for me! The first time I dropped half of them into a gummy pile! I use a sufid (Actually, it's smaller than a suffid. I don't remember what it's called) that I bought in Ethiopia. Basically, you need to find something that is the size of the mitad (16 inches) and flat. Using your finger, you gently lift one edge and quickly slide the suffid underneath the injera. Set it down on the sheet, still on the suffid.

The injera will look gummy and not good when you first take it off. As it cools, it becomes the nice spongy consistency of injera.

Often, the first injera won't be good. It might be gummy or lacking in ain. Often though, the rest will turn out okay. So, if the first one isn't good, try another one.

Begin cooking the next injera. After you have the lid on, then go back and remove the injera from the suffid. Lay it on the sheet. Note: If you stack the injeras on top of each other right away, they will stick together and you won't be able to separate them. If you let them cool on a sheet first, then stack them, they will peel apart when you're ready to use them.

Variations:

Now, I will address the color and taste of injera. Most reseraunts that I have eaten at in America serve a whiter injera. However, as with American bread, darker bread usually contains more nutrients. The same is true of darker teff and darker injera. To make lighter injera you can use ivory teff which is usually the same price as regular teff. It's usually specified that it is ivory. Another way is to experiment with the ratio of teff to other kinds of flour. I have not tried this recipe yet, but an Ethiopian woman who sells injera for a living told me that she uses teff, barley, and self-rising all in equal proportions. Experiment. And let me know what you come up with! Just remember that if you use too much teff, the injera won't have enough ain in it.

Conclusion

So, this has been a lot of information. As with anything, when you've done it a few times, it's easy to forget steps in the process, or information that wasn't so obvious at first. So if you get started and run into a question that I haven't addressed, please feel free to email me with your questions. moore4jesus1@juno.com

Good luck! :)

Injera-what I Learned This Week

Injera- I've decided this flat sourdough Ethiopian bread is more of an artform than just a simple recipe! Last week I came up with a pretty decent injera by improvising with some seltzer water for extra ain (what Ethiopians call the bubbles- it literally means "eyes"). This week though, after consulting several sources regarding the science of breadmaking, I have come up with the perfect injera. Well, it seems perfect to me based on my experiences in Ethipian restaraunts in America. Avery, who just spent a week in Ethiopia also said that it tasted and felt just right. The only thing that's not quite right is the color. My injera is a little darker than most of what I and Avery have seen. I have absolutely no explanation for that. Well, actually, I have a theory about the kind of teff I used. I'll explain later. I was counting on my very dear friend, Rosa, to critique my cooking this weekend. Rosa is originally from Ethiopia, so I figured she'd know better than anyone if it was right! Unfortunately, her plans changed at the last minute, so I have nobody to critique the authenticity of my injera. Anyway, I am going to share in excruciating detail all of the things I learned about injera this week. If you have no interest in making injera, you probably ought to stop reading now because this post is probably going to get pretty boring. If you want to cut right to the chase, you can skip all the way to the second to the last paragraph where I start with "So, in a nutshell..." Otherwise, proceed with reading my ramblings about injera!

I am definitely not Betty Crocker, so perhaps the things I learned this week will be painfully obvious to some of you who are reading this! However, I know that there are others out there who have the same culinary expertise that I was born with, so I'm going to explain every little thing I learned. If any of my readers have anything to add, I sincerely hope you will post a public comment so that everyone else can learn from you too!

Okay, here we go. First, If you've ever made sourdough bread from a starter, you might know more than you think about injera! I've tried countless times that recipe that we've all seen on the internet about mixing teff and water and letting it sit for 3 days and supposedly, just like magic, the injera will be perfect. Well, in all of my trying, the magic just never happened for me! The finished product has always been either gummy and/or completely void of ain. However, after reading up on it, I understand in theory why and how that ought to work. I'll explain.

Again, this works in theory. I have not had success with this method yet, but in theory, the science behind this is correct. As with any artform, I'm sure this could be perfected with lots of practice and experimenting. You see, combining the flour (teff in the case of injera) with water is the first step in creating a starter. The starter is the first, crucial element in making injera. Without a proper starter, it will not be possible to achieve the same sour taste combined with the soft, airy quality that is characteristic of good injera. To make the starter, you combine 3 3/4 cups flour with 4 cups warm water. The water must be warm, 105 degrees is ideal. Warm tapwater is fine to use. This mixture of flour and water will naturally attract wild yeasts and beneficial bacteria over the next several days. I am going to once again try this method that does not include using commercial yeasts next week. If I ever get it to really work well, I'll share.

Thus far, I have not gotten injera to work without commercial yeast. I did however, produce some near perfect injera this week using commercial yeast. Here is what I did:

1. I experimented and realized that following a recipe precisely doesn't guarantee successful results. I realized that injera is more about the smell and appearance than about the recipe.

Injera needs to ferment. That's how it gets the sour taste. Since I couldn't get it to work by relying on natural yeasts, I used dry commercial instant yeast instead. As the dough ferments, the sour taste develops and the fermenting action causes carbondioxide bubbles to build up and cling to the gluten in the teff. When the injera is cooked, the heat causes the carbondioxide gasses to escape, hence the ain, or bubbles. If there's not enough yeast, the taste will be right, but the bubbles won't be there.

That's what my problem has been: the taste is right, but the texture isn't. After consulting with a couple of women this week who know far more about baking bread than I do, I concluded that adding some yeast to my fermenting teff and water starter might help. It indeed did help.

So, on the first day, I started with teff and warm water. The consistency should look like pancake batter (when you make thin pancakes, not big, fat, fluffy ones). I used about 3 3/4 c. teff and 4 c. warm water. You need to cover the container tightly so that the fermentation gasses will be trapped inside. I made mine in an ice-cream pail, which is working quite well. If you cover it with plastic wrap, this allows you to see what's happening to the starter without taking the lid off and releasing the gasses. Secure it with a rubber band though because as the gasses build up, it can cause even a tight lid to blow off the top of the container. Once I became familiar with the injera batter, I just started using the lid because I no longer had such a need to see it all the time to make sure it was right. Also, don't use a metal container. Use either glass or plastic. I have no idea why (like I said, I'm not Betty Crocker), but every book and baker I've talked to has said that, so I thought I'd just follow their advice!

You can stir the teff and water with a spoon, but I recommend using your hands for a couple of reasons. One, you can get it mixed a little better, as you can squeeze the lumps with your fingers. Two, there are natural yeasts and good bacteria on your hands, both of which are good for your starter. Three, it's good to know what the starter feels like, sort of like getting to "know" the bread. I'm not suggesting that you form an emotional bond with your bread, simply that you become very familiar with it, as this helps in developing good inejra!

For three complete days, do NOTHING at all. Don't take the lid off and don't stir it. It will start to look really gross. Perhaps slimy, perhaps black and watery, perhaps yellowish and watery. Or it may seem to become alive and grow large lumps throughout it that poke up out of the water. On day 2 or 3 it should start to bubble. This means that you'll see little bubbles coming up. If you move the container a little, this will release some of the bubbles. Try not to move it because you want the bubbles to be in there, but feel free to move it a little just to see what's happening to the starter. Sometimes, it may bubble a lot and become frothy. All of these are good. It will smell "yeasty" or like bread dough, but also may smell bad like...well... like rotting flour?! Again, the smell is good. I actually enjoy the smell, but my kids definitely do not!

The starter should be kept warm, idealy at 72-75 degrees. Basically, keep it at room temperature. If it's in a room that's too cold, the yeast won't do it's job. If it's too hot, you can kill it. Literally, the starter is alive. Yeast is a living organism. You have to take good care of it so it doesn't die. A friend told me that if you turn you oven on to 400 degrees and leave it on for one minute that you can then turn it off and stick the starter inside. This is the perfect temperature to help the yeast do it's thing. I put my bucket on top of a baking sheet covered with a towel so that I don't risk melting the bucket on the oven rack. Again, make sure it's not too hot in the oven though or you'll just mess it up.

Now, on day 4, the injera can actually be cooked for a successful result in theory. For me, this has not happened yet though. For me, there just hasn't been enough ain without using yeast. I know that the yeast consumes the sugars in the flour and this produces the carbondioxide which clings to the gluten in the flour, which produces the ain. I sort of overcame this problem by adding seltzer water, which gives it instant carbondioxide bubbles. This produces a passable injera, but this week I decided to find a real solution instead of this quick fix.

So, here's what I did. On day 4, I added commercial yeast. Now, bread snobs are highly opposed to commercial yeast! This is why I hated to do it. But, I can't argue with the results I had, so I think I'll continue to use commercial yeast. I will continue to try to raise a healthy starter using only the natural yeasts in the air, but at least I can now make decent injera. Here's what I did:

On day 4, when the injera just wasn't working out, I added yeast. I used dry instant yeast. I used 1 tablespoon of yeast for every quart of starter. I had started with a larger batch, so I used 2 tablespoons of dry yeast. You combine that yeast in a bowl with about a teaspoon of sugar and 1/4 cup warm water (105 degrees) out of the tap. This activates the yeast. The yeast starts to "eat" the sugar, which is what activates it. Supposedly, it's not necessary to activate instant yeast. I've tried it both ways though and I had better success with my injera when I activated it first. Perhaps it was a fluke. I don't know.

It takes perhaps 10 minutes to activate. You'll know it's activated when the mixture is sort of frothy or bubbly. At this point, stir the yeast mixture into the injera. Don't worry about the sugar making it sweet and taking away the sour taste. The yeast eats it up and you won't even taste that small amount. Once again cover it tightly. You always keep the starter tightly covered. Keep it warm. It won't be ready immediately, but in an hour or so, it should be ready to try and cook. We'll get to that later though.

You can go through this 4 day process each time you cook injera, each time starting from scratch. But, the way they would do it in Ethiopia, which is also the way that produces a more flavorful injera each time, is to save some of the batter as your starter. Just like when you make "friendship bread" you always save a little bit of batter for the next batch. In theory, you shouldn't have to add more yeast and the yeast in the starter will continue to grow and stay alive. I'm still working on this part. In order to keep it alive, you have to feed it. If you don't feed it, it will die and you'll end up with no ain in your injera. If you start making injera with no ain, you know your yeast has died.

To feed the injera, you have to give it a steady diet of more flour and warm water. I actually ran out of teff a couple of days ago and have had to use white flour, but the injera is still nice and sour. So, you can experiment. Maybe it's not necessary to use only teff, which as you know if you've ever made injera, is quite expensive. The "Bread Snobs" whose books I've been reading say you have to feed your starter 3 times a day. Others say you only need to feed it once a day. I tried the lazy approach and my starter died. So perhaps you do need to feed it more often. Like I said, I'm still experimenting!

To know how much to feed it, it takes simple math. If you have 2 cups of starter, you need to add 1 cup of warm water and 1 1/4 cups of flour. For the next feeding, double that amount. You would add 2 cups of warm water and 2 1/2 cups of flour. For the next feeding, double that amount. You get it, I'm sure!

If you know that you can't keep feeding it for some reason, you can put it in the refrigerater for up to a month. The coldness will slow the growing of the yeast enough that the yeast won't starve to death. Keeping it in a cooler room will also slow the yeast so you won't have to feed it as often. A warm room will require more feeding.

My problem is that the starter I currently have isn't very healthy because it seems to die each day. I revive it by adding more yeast, which enables me to create perfect injera. But, that's not the way it's supposed to work. I don't have the answer.

Now, when you cook the injera, the pan matters. I've had the best success using a non-stick teflon coated frying pan. I cook it on med-med high heat. You'll have to experiment with your stove. The injera needs to have airflow over the top of it and also the air has to be able to get to the edges, which gives it access to get up under neath the injera. So, if you pour the batter all the way to the edges of the pan, it will probably not allow enough air to get up underneath it and you won't have any ain. If you make just little tiny injeras in the center of the pan, they'll work out just fine. I bought a family size electric griddle for making injera. This way I can make big injeras. Since the griddle has no sides, it allows air to get to the injera from all sides.

So, in a nutshell, this is what I've learned this week: Injera gets the sour taste from fermenting for a minimum of 3 days. Injera gets bubbles from yeast. The easiest, fastest way to put yeast in it is by using commercial yeast. Don't be afraid to experiment. Add a little yeast, give it a few hours, and if it's still not turning out right, add some more yeast. It is through experimenting that you'll learn how to make injera.

Somebody this week said that I must be a great cook. It made me laugh so hard. I have a handful of dishes that I make really really well. I stick with what I know! Eventually, I'm going to master this injera thing. I like the concept of doing a few things really well rather than doing a bunch of things so-so.

Injera- Perfect Starter Finally Achieved!

I have had a very nice injera starter going for several months now and it produces pretty decent injera. Not perfect yet. I think I need a fire pit, but Avery said no. Something about city ordinances????? But my starter does produce pretty good injera most of the time.

Because I know I'm not the only emaye (mommy) out there who knows nothing about sourdough starters, I'm going to explain this really simply. So if you already know about sourdough, don't feel insulted! Lots of us are clueless!

YOU WILL NEED LOTS OF PATIENCE TO MAKE THIS WORK!!!!!

What You Will Need:
One 1-gallon plastic, ceramic, or glass container with a lid
flour (white unbleached works great. Others are fine)
water

Day 1

Wash everything that will come into contact with the starter so that you don't have any little unwanted bacteria trying to get in and mess up your starter!

Mix together:
4 cups lukewarm water, 78 degrees- Water that's too hot will kill your starter.
3 3/4 cups flour

You can mix using a spatula or your hands. I recommend using your hands so that you can get to "know" your starter. This will make sense to you much later after you've experimented a lot.

The point of the starter is for the natural yeasts and bacteria in the air to form a sybiotic relationship with each other in the starter, thus keeping it alive. In order to give your starter a little help, you can use 1 pound pesticide free red or black grapes, a couple of potatoes cut up into smaller pieces, or a couple of fresh peaches. You tie the fruit or potatoes up into a cheese cloth and put the cheesecloth into the starter. If it's a juicy fruit, squeeze the cheese cloth to release the juices into the starter. When I made my starter a few months ago, I used cut up potatoes. This is supposedly not necesary, but I don't know. I figured I needed all the help I could get!

Let your starter sit on your counter covered with a lid.

Day 2

Do nothing. Keep starter on counter covered with lid.

Day 3

Do nothing. Keep starter on counter covered with lid.

Some bubbles may have started to form in the starter. This is good. If it's really frothy, this is good too. The cheese cloth may have inflated with gas and floated to the top. This is good. If you smell it, it should smell "yeasty" like fresh baking bread. This is good. If it looks gross, this is good too. If it's moldy, this is NOT good. Remove the mold as soon as you see it using a spoon. As long as you remove the mold, this is good!

Day 4

Add 1 cup flour and 1 cup warm water.

Mix with your hands. Cover with lid and keep it on the counter.

You can technically make injera at this point, but it's not as easy or as tasty as if will be if you wait a little longer.

The starter will start to smell like alcohol soon. This is good.

Days 5,6,7,8,9

Do nothing. Let it sit on the counter. If you see mold, remove it right away. Then, only if there was mold, you can add 1 cup warm water and 1 cup flour. Stir.

Unless there was mold, you don't need to stir the starter. Just leave it alone. At some point, the alcohol smell will be replaced by a nice yeasty smell again. This is good.

Day 10

You will begin your starter's regular feedings on Day 10. Remove cheese cloth and throw away. Stir your starter very well. Set aside 2 cups of the starter. Throw the rest away. Put the starter back into your 1 gallon container. But clean the container first. For the best injera results, feed your starter 3 times a day. Feeding this often makes it so that you have lots of ain ("eyes" - this is what Ethiopians call the bubbles in the injera).

Add:
1 cup warm water
1 1/4 cups flour

Stir thoroughly with hands. Put lid back on.

I try to space out my three feedings. Ideally, it would be fed every 8 hours. But you have to sleep at some point! I feed my injera first thing in the morning, again in the early afternoon, and again right before I go to bed. Space the three feedings out the best you can given your daily schedule.

For feeding #2, add:
2 cups water
2 1/2 cups flour

By the time I need to do feeding #3, I usually throw away all but 2 cups of the starter and start all over again with the feeding amounts. In other words, for each feeding, you double the amount of flour and water that you used the previous time. But, as you'll soon figure out, doing this will create A LOT of starter! So, once you throw away all but two cups, you'll start again with adding 1 cup water and 1 1/4 cups flour.

Days 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Continue with the 3 times a day feeding schedule. By Day 15, the starter might be ready for injera. Mine was not. Mine took almost three weeks before it was ready to make nice injera. The way you know it's ready is to try it. If it makes injera with lots of bubbles, it's ready. If not, keep feeding it a few more days and try again.

Day 15 And Beyond

As long as your starter isn't in the refrigerater, you need to feed it regularly. I have found that feeding it just once or twice a day will keep it from dying. But any fewer than three feedings each day produces injera with not so many bubbles for me. Because the amount of wild yeast in your house is not the same as my house, each person's results will vary slightly. Temperature also has an affect on how quickly the starter develops. Once your starter is very strong and healthy you can put it in the refrigerater.

Refrigeration

You should pull your starter out of the refrigerater, let it sit until it's room temperature, and give it 1-3 feedings about once a week. It is possible to get away with once a month, but you're risking letting it die if you wait so long. Mine is at the one month point right now. So, when I pull it out to feed it today, I sincerely hope it's not dead!

Converting Your Starter To A Teff Starter

Once your starter is very strong and consistently bubbly, you can then convert it to a teff starter in order to obtain the proper sour teff flavor of injera. This part is easy. You just feed it as detailed above. It only takes 2-3 feedings before the teff has become the dominant flavor in the injera.

My Yummiest Injera Ever

This past weekend I made my yummiest injera ever and want to share with my readers the slight variations I made to the basic instructions. This injera included barley flour which gave it a taste just like what I've had in the Ethiopian restaurants in NC.

If you didn't read the post where I gave basic instructions, check that out first. These are very step-by-step instructions for making authentic Ethiopian injera here in America.

But first, a tip for getting more ain in your injera: The first step I gave in my instructions was "The Night Before" step. If you pull the starter out of the refrigerator earlier in the day and feed it with some wheat flour (just because it's cheaper- use whatever flour you prefer) in the morning, then give it another feeding in the afternoon, it will have more ain when you cook it the next day.

Now, to incorporate barley (gebs for my Habesha readers!), here is how I did it. I'm sure you can experiment on your own for variations. But I'll tell exactly how I did it since it worked for me.

When I did Step 1 (The Night Before), I added teff and kneaded it exactly as is written in my basic instructions. However, prior to adding teff, I set aside half of the starter. I had 3 cups of starter that I divided into 3 separate plastic containers. I kneaded teff into 1 cup of starter. Then I "fed" 1 cup with barley. And I fed the other cup of starter with self-rising. I did not knead the barley and self-rising. I just fed the starters. If you don't know how to feed a starter, please see my post about making and feeding starters.

The next morning I fed the barley and self-rising again. Then I made sure I had equal amounts of teff, barley, and self-rising starter. I blended it all up in the blender, just as my basic instructions say to do. Everything else I did was the same.

The reason for making the barley and self-rising into a starter the night before is that it adds to the sourness of the injera. Also, it allows more time for the ain to develop.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the emails I've received from people who are experimenting with their own injera. I must say though that my favorite emails have been the ones I've received from Ethiopians. I got the funniest email this morning from a lady who wanted to tell me all about the funny video she found on the internet. The reason it was so funny to her is that it was a "ferinj lady" teaching people how to make injera! I wrote back and told her that I too think that's hilarious! :) If you've tried injera and it still didn't work, don't give up! Try it again! I've gotten quite a few emails from people who have finally found success. You can do it! :)

12 Days!!!!/Mitad

JUST 12 DAYS UNTIL I GO TO ETHIOPIA TO MEET MY YOSEF AND MIHRET!!!!!!!

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, I would like to share what I have learned about this well-kept secret of making injera in America- the mitad. We had supper with some new friends last night who are from Ethiopia and Abeba showed me her mitad. This wonderful cooking device that a couple of Ethiopian women now have said can only be purchased in very large cities that have large Ethiopian populations is the exact same item that our local Target sells! It is available online by clicking here. This is what Abeba uses as her mitad. Now, you must have a lid to cook injera, so you need to purchase a lid separately that will fit. Yene addis wadadj (My new friend) is going to let me come to her house so that I can actually watch and learn how to do it. She said that something else that is essential is a blender. Evidently, in Ethiopia, she stirred the injera with her hands and it was find. But in America (elevation perhaps?), the only thing that works is to stir it by putting it into a blender. She said that once her blender broke so she used a food processor, but that didn't work. It must be a blender. So, a blender it is.

It occurred to me the other day that there are lots of shortcut recipes for injera, some of them not so bad. But they're just not the real deal either. For me, the quest to learn how to make injera stems largely from the desire to honor the cultural heritage of two of my kids. It has to do with honoring their parents. We are supposed to honor our parents, and I feel that by honoring their culture, their parents are being honored as well. That's why I won't settle for a shortcut recipe. I want the real deal. Mihret told Avery that her favorite food is injera! I must learn this! :) I've been discussing injera via email with a woman who lives about an hour from me, who is also an American mother to adopted Ethipian children. We've been trying to share all of the secret tips we've picked up. It suddenly struck me that we would be extremely entertaining to any Ethiopian woman! It would be like me watching two Ethiopian mothers dicussing the finer technicalities of making mashed potatoes, yet still not coming up with good mashed potatoes! Perhaps someday I'll be such a good injera maker that I will have Ethiopians lining up at my door in the hopes of having the opportunity to buy my injera...hmmm....what is that verse in the Bible about faith being the evidence of things hoped for and not yet seen?

14 DAYS!!!!/Mitad

Just in case anybody missed my happy little ticker at the top of my blog, we're now down to 14 DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE TO GO TO ETHIOPIA TO VISIT OUR YOSEF AND MIHRET!!!!!! I've had so many thoughtful personal emails sent to me that have used the phrase "bitter-sweet" in regard to our trip. True, I wish this was the trip to bring our kids home, as we've waited a very long time. But as of yet, it doesn't feel bitter. Just sweet. The wait and separation from my children has felt bitterly painful at times. But this visit is only sweet. I love a song that says, "You turn the bitter into sweet..." Indeed, God is turning the bitter pain into only sweetness. And He is so good to me. Knowing how painful it will be to leave Ethiopia without my children in my arms, it looks like He has opened a door for us to escort a baby back to his new family in America. It already brings me such a measure of comfort to know that my arms will at least have somebody else's baby to love on that long plane ride home. God knows my heart so well. He knows how much comfort it brings me to have a baby in my arms.

Now, I have learned a most valuable and well kept Ethiopian secret about injera! I just can't seem to get the right consistency. So, last week I traveled an hour and bought some injera from an Ethiopian restaraunt. When I got home, I discovered that the local woman who made it had a sticker on the bag with her name and phone number! So, I decided to call this wonderful injera maker named Tenu. I explained to Tenu who I was and that I had tried for over a year to make injera, but just couldn't get it quite right. I asked her if I could pay her to give me a cooking lesson. She thought this was quite funny and agreed to help me free of charge. Then, she asked me if I had a pan. I told her that I have a frying pan. She said, "Oh no. You need a special pan." She said she'd find out what it's called and where to buy it and call me back. She hasn't yet.

So, on Saturday we had lunch with our new friends Tedros and Abeba. Abeba knows exactly how to make injera and said that she will teach me. She said that the name of the special pan is a "mitad" and that it is what they call the clay fire pit in Ethiopia. In America, you can buy an electric mitad. Who knew?????? In all of my research on injera, I have never come across the word mitad before! BUT, if you do research on the word mitad, you will find all kinds of nice sociological and anthropological articles discussing the use of the mitad to make injera in Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djbouti, and Somalia. Also, the mitad is used in Congo, but I'm not sure what they cook on it. I just can't believe this special stove/pan wasn't mentioned in anything I've found about injera! It's expensive though. I only found one place to buy it online and it was $190. Tenu said she thought you could get it in DC for $90. So, I am going to use all of the money I get for Christmas, which will hopefully be enough, and try to find myself a mitad when we go to DC to catch our plane in 14 DAYS- THAT'S RIGHT- JUST 2 WEEKS!!!!!!

Injera Day 1

Injera Day 1
Originally uploaded by burakaeyae.

Okay- today I'm starting another batch of injera, not at all deterred by the multitude of failures I've already experienced in my attempts to master this culinary skill! I thought I'd share with the world my little journey through the fermentation of teff. I'm very determined. At an Ethiopian restaraunt recently, the owner told us that if you have a room with 100 Ethiopian women that only one or two will be able to make good injera, and that out of those two women, they'll only be able to make it right half the time. Now, being a white American girl, I can't attest as to the truth in that statement. But it certainly does issue a challange to me. Furthermore, when Avery visited our kids in Ethiopia, our five-year-old daughter said that her favorite food is injera. I know I can just buy the stuff, but isn't it so special when your mommy cooks you your favorite food? So, after numerous failed batches, and much scientific study, I embark on yet another journey to create the perfect injera.

Today, I gently mixed the following, covered with a towel, and set aside until tomorrow:
1 package dry yeast
1 cup teff
1 1/4 cup warm water

10 Days/ Truly Perfect Injera At Last Thanks To Abeba

ONLY 10 DAYS LEFT UNTIL I GO TO ETHIOPIA TO MEET MY YOSEF AND MIHRET!!!!!

And, the other exciting thing that happened to me today is that I have made a truly perfect injera at last thanks to my new friend Abeba. Abeba called me today to say that she was going to make injera, so I drove to her house and watched and learned. There is a step that she did last night that I missed, but the next time she does that, she is going to call me. Then, I think I can do it on my own. I actually made the injera in these pictures! I am so proud of myself! I have a whole stack of injera on my counter that I made! Also, Abeba had an entire 25 pound bag of teff that she only paid $30 for! I have been paying about $6 for a tiny little bag that is probably just about 1 pound! Who knew all of these secrets?! Evidently, Ethiopians living in America know all of these secrets, and now I get to know them too!

Injera Q and A

I received an email from Carolyne in Canada, but was unable to email a response back. So I figured I'd answer her question on my blog since others probably had the same question anyway.

1. If you like your injera to be more sour, you can use a self-rising flour starter instead of adding it fresh on the day you cook it. This will add sourness. Also, allowing more time between feedings of a starter adds sourness. But you have to be careful because if you allow it to sit for too long without feeding it, some of the yeast begins to die and you won't have as much ain.

2. If you are only able to get good ain on some parts of the injera, it could be due to your heat. Injera depends on high, fast heat to force the CO2 that is released by the yeast "eating" the flour to come to the surface, thereby creating ain. Also, it could be an issue of not having enough active yeast to begin with.

3. When you cook your injera, if it gets slightly crispy on the bottom, it should soften after it cools.

30 Days of Nothing- Day 4

.
. Today is day four of our family's 30 Days of Nothing. Note the home-made jar for collecting money. The quarter on the bottom is from Kaitlyn. What a sweetie! I've been working diligently on this home-made injera thing for a while now. It involves adding more flour and teff to the injera each day, and throwing some of the batter away so that the injera doesn't overtake the kitchen and my life! Well, this morning I thought of what a waste it is to throw away the injera batter. So, I added a couple of eggs and a little bisquick and made pancakes with maple syrup for the kids. Now, I thought it tasted absolutely disgusting and opted for yogurt instead, as did Avery. But the kids loved every bite of it. So, I now have a bunch of sourdough teff pancakes in the freezer that I can pull out and toast each morning for the kids. I'm pretty proud of my non-wasting of injera batter.

Yesterday, our family went to a Bikers for Christ retreat that is held each fall. The founder of BFC Fred Z and his beautiful wife, Esther were there. I wish I could spend more time with these Californians. They are good friends to us. It was so nice to get to see them yesterday. Not to mention we saw people from Tennessee, South Carolina, Maryland, and North Carolina. We've missed some of these people for 2 years and it was such a gift from God to spend the day with them. The event was held at this beuatiful little retreat center, Stillwater Lodge right on a lake in rural North Carolina. I'm not kidding you- the moment you step foot on the grounds of this place, you can sense this amazing peacefulness. It's sureal. The owners, Jeff and Jan, are these awesome people who have seen their lives make a complete turnaround these past four years. Looking at them is looking at a miracle. Below is a picture of Avery and me with Fred (short little biker dude) with Esther (tall, prettiest 60 something woman I've ever seen!)



Lucas loves to sit with me on the "handkercheifs." This means hammock. We were snuggling together on a "handkerchief" under some tall, old pine trees just a few feet from the lily-pad covered edge of the lake. The only sounds are those that nature makes. Lucas looked up at me and said, "I just love it here where we can enjoy the sweet smell of frogs and fish, Mommy!"

We went swimming in 60 degree water! I'm amazed at how kids don't seem to mind freezing cold water! We went for a little canoe ride out on the lake. We got to catch up with old friends, met new friends, and kicked back in the beauty of nature.

Around suppertime, we thought we'd better get going so that we could get home before the kids got too hungry. Remember, it's 30 Days of Nothing, so that means no McDonalds drive-thru for us! There were leftover donughts, so we all had one so we wouldn't be too hungry before we got home. And wouldn't you know it, just when we were going to leave, Jan announced that there was leftover fried chicken in one of the lodges. God is so good and faithful even in the little things. Now, I know that many people might not see that as a gift from God, be we sure did. Not only did we get fed without having to break our 30 Days of Nothing fast from consumerism, but with our bellies full, we were able to stay for several more hours. 26 days to go. Check back later...

Injera Day 3

The injera batter today looks just like it did yesterday. The last time I tried this, I had to do something that my dear Ethiopian friend calls "damping the whey." Now, I have no idea if this is an Ethiopian phrase, or if this is something that any American chef could tell you all about. All I know is that I can make a few meals very well, but I've never had to "damp the whey" before! At any rate, "damping the whey" means that you soak up or spoon off the liquid that has gathered on top of the injera. However, for reasons I cannot explain, there is absolutely no liquid on the top of my injera batter. It's the first time ever that there has been no liquid. What can I say? I'm an experimenter, not a chef! Tomorrow is the day that I cook the injera, so hopefully my little test will prove to be successful! I continue to leave it sitting on the counter covered with a towel for this last day of fermentation.

Is Injera Supposed To Turn Black?

For everyone who is more of an expert on injera than me, I was wondering if injera is supposed to turn black after a few days? More specifically, should it turn black with a dark green mold-like growth on the bottom and have a really horrible smell that is so bad you're afraid to taste it after a few days? More importantly, do you think it was a good idea to serve above mentioned injera to dinner guests on Saturday night?

Passing The Time

I'm doing my best to stay busy while we wait for our courtdate to come! For a while now, I've had a compulsive need to check my email multiple times a day, as I knew that when there was news on my kids, it would be sent to me in an email. Well, now that I have a courtdate scheduled, that compulsion has suddenly lifted! What a relief too. I was spending far too much time on the computer and far too little time in "real life."

So, to keep busy, I got my injera starter out of the fridge and successfully revived it this week. My injera is near perfect in appearance and quite good in taste. My only problem is that if it sits around for more than half a day, it gets dried out. It doesn't seem to matter whether I cover it or not. And if I refrigerate it, I might as well forget it. Also, it's darker than what I've purchased commercially. Any thoughts on this?

We invited some people over for Ethiopian food last night and their 4 year old spent the night. When I tucked her into bed, I asked her if she liked the Ethiopian food. She wrinkled up her little nose and said very definitively, "NO!" I asked her why not and she said, "Because it's from China!" At least she gave me a good laugh! Kaitlyn on the other hand has decided that injera is her favorite food now and that she loves Ethiopian food, which I don't think is really true, but hey- whatever floats her boat is fine with me.

I've decided that my life has become completely unstructured. My problem is some sort of adult ADD. It's where adults start one task, get distracted by another, then another, then another, and eventually realize that nothing ever actually got finished, yet work was done the entire day and there's nothing to show for it at bed time. Sound familiar to anybody?! So, I'm going to begin putting some boundaries around how I spend my time. Avery said it's all about prioritizing! :) So, because the boundary I have established for my blog is that I need to finish by 8:30 this morning, I'm signing off with one final plea to anybody who is willing to take 30 seconds out of their day, PLEASE pray that Yosef and Mihret's courtdate goes smoothly next Thursday!

Injera Day 2

Injera Day 2
Originally uploaded by burakaeyae.

Day 2 of the injera, and I'm not sure if it's successful or not, because I really don't know what it's supposed to look like, but here it is! Today, I added the following:

3 cups pre-sifted self-rising flour, which I sifted again for no real reason
1 1/4 cup warm water

I stirred these ingredients very gently as not to release all of the gluten, as there is some highly scientific reasoning behind this. I can't explain it, nor can I remember it, but it has to do with diabetes and how teff is so good for diabetics due to the gluten levels. Or something like that.

Day 3 With Ma'aza Continued

Here I continue the story of the day we spent with Ma'aza, my new hand-holding Ethiopian friend!

So, after Mercado, we went back to the hotel for a bite to eat before it was time for Avery and me to go visit Yosef and Mihret at the orphanage. We had injera (of course!), doro wot (spicy chicken stew), 2 types of gomen (cabbage), mesir wot (spicy lentil stew), and aiyb (Ethiopian cheese similar in appearance to ricotta cheese). Our meal together was delicious! And so much fun. Here's the thing about girsha (Ethiopian method of eating where the people feed each other bites of food to show love, intimacy, respect, etc.) that I don't care for. Whenever people feed me bites of food wrapped up in injera, they give me such big bites that I can barely chew them! Everybody does it to me. So I am assuming that I must take smaller than normal bites. But when I have a huge bite of food in my mouth, I just keep chewing and chewing and chewing, then I feel sick! If it weren't for that little problem, I wouldn't mind girsha one bit.

However, that's not really my point. Because overall, the day was incredibly wonderful! As we ate, we discussed America and Ethiopia, and our lives, our families, God, etc. Ma'aza's perceptions of America were so funny to me. She couldn't understand why I don't have a job. I tried to explain that because Avery makes enough money, I am able to stay with our kids because it's what I want to do. She said with disbelief and utter lack of comprehension of the situation, "But why doesn't your servant take care of them?!" Servant? I don't have a servant! I AM the servant at our house! We tried to explain what Walmart is, but I don't think we really got through to her. I'm going to take a picture for her when we go back next time.

The funniest part was that she was enjoying the food very much, as did we. Once Avery and I were full, we stopped eating, but Ma'aza continued to eat. Now, she's a tiny little thing! She's about the same height as me (5 feet), but skinnier. And I'm only 105 pounds. So, I was amazed that she could pack away the food like that. As she continued to eat, she kept telling us, "eat, eat!" and we kept saying that we were full. She finally explained to us that if we didn't eat it all that it would be very rude. Now, I really didn't want to waste the one hour I was going to have with Yosef and Mihret on being sick from eating too much food! So, we told her we'd ask for a bag so that she could take it home to her family. She thought that idea was hilarious. She said she couldn't possibly do that. She wanted to do that, but she thought it was so funny to even consider it. She said with laughter and her heavy Ethiopian accent, "My father will say, 'What are you now? A beggar?!?!' " But, she did like the idea of giving so much good food to her mother. So, we called the waitress over to ask for a bag, but her English was non-existent and I don't know the Amharic word for "doggy bag." So, Ma'aza asked for one. The waitress seemed very confused and Ma'aza started laughing. Ma'aza tried to explain what she wanted and the two of them talked back and forth for a few minutes while Ma'aza just kept laughing and the waitress continued to look confused. Without understanding a word, just watching them was quite amusing. When the waitress walked away, Ma'aza explained that the waitress had asked her, "Why do you want a bag? Do you want the food for a beggar?!" The only bag the waitress could find was small and used. So I went up to our hotel room to get a Ziploc bag (I travel prepared for any circumstance!) for the food. Ma'aza said that in Ethiopian restaurants, people don't take the food home with them unless they're going to give it to a beggar. We had been taking the food all week for beggars! No wonder the waiters always looked at us kind of funny!

I explained to Ma'aza that in America, all restaurants have special little boxes so that you can take your food home with you. She wanted to know why we would do such a thing. I explained that the next day, when you're hungry, you can heat it up in the microwave. "Micro....Micro....Micro-wave?" was Ma'aza's response. How do you explain what a microwave is?! We explained that it was a tiny little oven that was electric and you put the food in, push the button, and 1 minute later, it's all hot. I'm not sure that she believed us! I saw her later in the week though, and her family was so very happy with the food, especially her mother. So, it was worth it!

After lunch, we walked back up to our room until it was time to go see the kids. She saw all of the Yesus On The Streets bags everywhere and asked about them. I explained to her what they were all about. She started looking at them and was amazed at all of the medicines. I told her that she could have one and pointed her to the pile of bags made by women. As she started picking them up, she kept asking about the various medicines and it was obvious that even to this girl with two professors for parents that medicine was a luxury. She just couldn't believe that she could really have one of the bags. After she chose one, I told her to pick one for her parents too, and she was so happy. She really just couldn't comprehend that she was allowed to have even one bag, much less three. She carefully chose for her parents and we sent her home with a bunch of chocolate for her brothers. I also gave her all of the cough drops I had in my backpack, something she had never heard of. She was amazed that eating just one would help her to stop coughing. My goodness! How many times have I been unable to sleep at night due to a nagging cough and one little cough drop afforded me a good night of peaceful sleep? And have I ever once stopped to be grateful for a cough drop? Have I ever once stopped long enough to be truly grateful for a chocolate bar, or Advil, or hair conditioner, or an ink pen? If I stopped long enough to be grateful for each of the luxuries that God has blessed my life with, I wouldn't get a single thing done in a day because I'd never be finished with thanking God! And I just kept realizing that these things were "luxuries" to this girl from a professional family!

Now, we'd distributed 3 of the bags, what about the rest of them that were flooding our hotel room?! We had given up on reaching our contact in Ethiopia. You see, we'd actually ridden over on the plane with him, and he gave us his phone number, but when we arrived, we discovered that the phone systems had been revamped since his last visit and his phone number no longer worked the same way. We tried everything! We got in touch with friends in America who had his number, but their number was the same as ours and didn't work anymore! We began to really pray to find out what God wanted us to do with all of the bags. But that's another story for another day!

As fun as this day was, it was finally almost 5:00PM, the very best hour of the entire day, as this was the hour when I would see my sweet Yosef and Mihret. We exchanged our customary Ethiopian kisses with Ma'aza and said goodbye. What a sweet young woman she was. Whenever we find ourselves in Addis, her family will be our family. God is so good to have put her in our path. It was really one of the most fun days I have ever had.

My Genius Husband Found The Real Mitad Lid

Well, after I finally resigned myself earlier today to buying a 16 inch stainless steel bowl to go on top of my mitad, my husband came home and saved the day! He was so smart that he looked on the box that my mitad came in, saw that it was made by Bethany House (yes, the book publishers), then he found Bethany House's website where he located the actual lid that goes with the mitad! So, here is the link for the real deal. They don't make it easy, as you can't order it on the internet. You have to call. It was $22 including shipping. Rich over at No More Counting The Cost also found a 16 inch lid that will work, but I couldn't figure out how much it would cost. My guess is probably about the same, as that seems to be the going rate for a lid based on my shopping experience this morning.

Abeba came over today and let me borrow her lid so that I could cook the injera that I started working on last night. And I'm so excited because it actually worked! I did it totally by myself and it worked! There wasn't quite enough ain (the bubbles) around the outside edges, but Abeba said it's because I used too much teff and not enough self-rising flour. It tasted like injera should and I did it completely by myself! Did I mention how excited I am?!?! After I do it a few more times, I'll share everything that Abeba has taught me. I just want to do it myself a few more times so that I can be confident in what I share.

Random Stuff...

It's almost midnight and we just got home from a most fun night with a family we are close friends with. They have a son and a daughter who are older than our kids, but all of the kids are great friends. Their son is 14 and Lucas is 5, but Lucas insists that they are best friends and wants his "best friend" to come for a sleepover. What's so sweet is that the 14 year old is so kind to Lucas and allows Lucas to continue in his "best friend" role. These truly are great kids. I hope mine turn out as well at that age.

No news about the adoption yet, but I really didn't expect any. However, I'm hoping to hear by the end of next week that the country representative in Ethiopia has gone to court to "open a file" for us, which means that our court dates will have been requested. We'll see what happens.

I spent some time with Abeba again today working on injera. She showed me exactly how she does the first step which did have a few little Ethiopian secrets that I never would have guessed. I have to back to her house tomorrow morning to do the middle step. Then from there I'll bring it home to actually cook it. My mitad lid came today! I'm so excited. I feel quite confident now that I've done this injera thing a few times. The next time I make it I will take some video and upload it to youtube.com so that anybody who is interested can actually watch. It is so much easier to watch the process than to try to make sense from reading it.

Next week I will post one final entry about our trip to Ethiopia. It will be about our last hour with our incredibly beautiful kids. Have I mentioned that they are the two most adorable children in all of Africa? Well, if you've adopted or given birth to an African child, I am so sorry to disappoint you, but this is positively true! :)

Tomorrow Kaitlyn is going off to a sleepover and Lucas is staying with "Miss Kim" whom he says is one of his "grown-up friends" so Avery and I are going to have an entire evening and night to our selves! Yipppppeeeee! I so cherish these little vacations with each other. Avery surprised me tonight with a ukulele. I can play "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" which is pretty funny on the ukulele. Avery is always so sweet to buy new a new instrument whenever he finds a good deal. (He knows me and knows that I would be upset if it wasn't a good deal!) Then he doesn't even complain while I'm learning to play it! Now that's love! :)

To all: Enjoy your weekend and thank you for your prayers.

Adoption Update

Please pray for our adoption this week, as we are really hoping that our agency's country rep will be able to open a file for us in court this week so that we can be given a new courtdate. I'm trying to tell myself not to expect news this week, but hopefully next week. I figure that if I can convince myself that it won't be until next week, and it does end up being this week, I'll just be pleasantly surprised. My excitement level is rising by the day quite honestly, and I really really do hope it's this week. (Self- stop thinking this way! Accept next week!)

I had to fax a copy of our I600-A approval (a piece of paperwork from the US government that gives families permission to bring an adopted child into the US) to our agency today and in doing so I realized that our approval expires the last week of April. I had known this before, but I think I blocked it out! The US immigration office that handles that particular piece of paperwork in our state has been kind of slow in my experience, but this might not be the norm. One experience doesn't really signify a rule, now does it? I probably need to find out. Our homestudy agency told us that with an expiration date in late April that we need to renew this particular piece of paperwork right now. We're holding off on it though because it will cost another $545 to renew it. So, we're giving it until the end of next week. If we don't hear anything, I guess we'll just have to do it again. I have a feeling we'll be hearing very soon.

I really just have so much peace about all of it. I really feel like this time is for real. And even apart from that, I have had so many supportive friends remind me that my focus needs to be on God and not the difficulty of the current circumstances. And they are so right. When my focus is on God, all is well, even if the world around me is going crazy. I can still have peace inside of me. Pretty cool, isn't it?! :)

On a separate note, my injera over the weekend was a dismal failure, so there is no video. But, I made another batch today which turned out so perfect. But, I didn't video tape it. But I will be making some more soon and will video tape that batch. Kaitlyn and Lucas hated Ethiopian food when we first started cooking it, but I think they're developing a taste for it! We had Siga W'et (spicy ground beef stew), mesir aliche (mild lentil sauce), aiyb (like ricotta cheese, sort of), and gomen (cabbage- one of my absolute favorites) for supper tonight. We actually got through supper with relatively few complaints. Probably the fact that I'm no longer feeding them injera that tastes awful is helping them to develop a taste for Ethiopian cuisine. I know it's helped my palate!

Injera- The Finished Product

Injera day 3 was somewhat successful, I suppose. The finished product doesn't exactly look right, but it's closer than it's been so far. The taste was actually pretty good. It seems that there's a real science to sourdough bread. I've been reading a book about this, and according to the book, it takes 14 days to get your starter batch going. Like I said, I'm determined, so I've already started my starter batch using just teff and water and relying on the natural yeast in the air to be captured by what the book calls this "living organism" called sourdough bread. Avery and I are going to be signing up for an Ethiopian cooking class offered by an Ethiopian restaraunt. Perhaps we'll learn the secret at our class!

More Progress...

I really wasn't expecting any adoption news today, but I guess I gave up hope too soon! Our agency's country rep has "the letter" in her hands now. Next she has to show it to the courts. She is expecting to re-open our courtfiles next week, which means she can request our courtdates. Soon...

To all who have prayed for me this week and sent me encouraging emails, thank you!!!! Sometimes I wonder what in the world is wrong with me that God can do so many miraculous things for us and speak so clearly to my heart. Then two days later I seem to completely forget about it and fall into an introspective discouragement! You know, kind of like when God saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, led them through the desert, took care of their every need, showed them the land He was giving them (which was a pretty incredible place!), then they STILL forgot all of God's faithfulness and complained! So, I guess I'm not the only one who has that tendency. Must be the human condition or something like that?! At any rate, the important thing is that when we find ourselves in that place that we can ALWAYS go running back to God. When we are faithless, He is still faithful. Good thing too! :)

I have this little problem right now though. We've been invited to a Super-Bowl party at the home of a gourmet chef. This chef is a friend of a friend. He really is a master at culinary arts. We've had the good pleasure of attending a reception that he prepared. So, this chef wants to sample Ethiopian food. The food is not a problem. However I'm completely out of teff! I ordered some from The Teff Company online, but it's still not here! I may have to break down and drive all the way to Raleigh where I'll have to spend a small fortune on a tiny little bag of the stuff! Abeba still hasn't found us a new dealer. Hmmm... that sounds kind of shady, doesn't i?! Anyway, my point is to let my readers know that as soon as my teff arrives in the mail I am going to make another batch of injera and I will videotape each step and post it on you-tube along with detailed instructions in writing. Soon there will be injera-making-ferenj all over the world! :)