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Ethiopian Injera

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Ethiopian InjeraA few years ago I had lunch with my Mum at an Ethiopian restaurant in Vancouver. Never having had Ethiopian food before, I had no idea what to expect, other than my Mum telling me that we would be eating “injera” made from “teff”, which really didn’t do much to clear things up.

What arrived at our table was a giant, crèpe-like flatbread covered in dollops of several kinds of thick, curry-like stew, to be shared between the two of us. Eating with our hands, we tore off pieces of the crèpe and used it to scoop up the stew, which was spicy and flavourful and incredibly delicious. The crèpe, as it turned out, was called injera, and it was made from a grain called teff (which happens to be gluten-free). It had a pleasant, almost spongy texture and slightly sour flavour, due to it being made with a sourdough starter of sorts. Along with being one of the most unusual eating experiences I have ever had (it’s not everyday in Canada that an edible part of your meal serves as both plate and eating utensil), that lunch was also one of the most memorable and delicious.

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Sourdough Pasta (with a Pasta Machine)

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Recently I was lucky enough to receive a pasta machine from a relative (thanks Cecilia!), and I’ve been giving it a pretty good workout lately – it definitely makes homemade pasta easier to churn out than rolling it by hand. This particular pasta machine was made in Italy but comes under the name “NUDELMASCHINE”, which sounds more German than Italian and prompts me and Nate to put on our best/worst German accents whenever it comes out of the cupboard for a pasta-making session.

A little while ago I came across a recipe for sourdough pasta on The Gingered Whisk (one of my Sourdough Surprises buddies), and as recipes for using up excess sourdough starter are always useful, I gave it a whirl. …

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Sourdough Danish Pastries

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This is the first post in a series of three – click to read Part II and Part III.

In my last post, I was extolling the virtues of making something simple from scratch. Now I am going to extol the virtues of making something rather complicated from scratch: Danish pastries using sourdough starter. Yes, we are doing this!

At the end of April, I wrote a list of stuff I wanted to make for this blog over the summer, and Danish pastries was on it. I had my first taste of making laminated dough when the Daring Bakers made croissants a while back, and I wanted to try it again. But I was kind of putting it off because it’s a lot of butter and a lot of work: all that rolling and folding and rolling and folding and resting and waiting. Then, during the Daring Bakers reveal last month, I came across Sourdough Surprises, which is another baking group that a few Daring Bakers members have created to bake together once a month using their sourdough starters. And their recipe for May was sourdough Danishes! Well, it seemed like fate. I was in….

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Sourdough Pancakes

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Happy New Year!!

The end of this month marks one year since I started this blog, and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has visited and read my blog over the past year. I’ve had a ton of fun cooking and taking pictures and writing and I’m excited for another year of good food. Cheers! 😀

And now back to important matters at hand: Sourdough Pancakes!

As I now have a Tupperware container of sourdough starter living in my fridge, I’ve been looking for ways to use the excess that comes out of every feeding. I’ve made these pancakes twice now (on the list are also crumpets, English muffins, and obviously, bread) and they are delicious! Light and fluffy, they have a more complex flavour than regular pancakes, thanks to the fermentation of the yeasts in the starter. They are full of bubbles and have an almost lacy texture because of it.

These pancakes are very absorbent little sponges, so to give them something in addition to maple syrup to soak up without becoming sickly sweet, I made a quick strawberry-orange sauce: about 1 cup of frozen strawberries cooked with the juice of 2 mandarin oranges, a dash of water, and a few tablespoons of sugar. I boiled it until it thickened slightly, then pureed it in the blender and served it warm with the pancakes and maple syrup.

You need 3/4 cup starter to make these, which is more than the extra I end up with after each feeding, so I put that extra starter in another Tupperware container and “save up” until I have enough. Right now I’m feeding my starter once a week, so it takes a few weeks for the “extra” starter to amount to 3/4 cup, but it seems perfectly happy to sit in the fridge in the interim. If it looks like it needs feeding (ie, lots of liquid “hootch” on top), then I’ll just add a small amount of flour and water (equal parts by weight) to keep it happy until I’m ready to use it.

Sourdough Pancakes

Recipe from Allrecipes.com. Makes 6-8 pancakes.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-low (4 out of 10) heat.

In a large measuring cup (or a medium bowl with a pouring spout), mix together:

3/4 cup sourdough starter

1 egg

2 tbsp water (can use more or less depending on the thickness of your starter)

2 tsp vegetable oil

(1 tsp vanilla would be a good addition too!)

In another small bowl, combine:

1/3 cup powdered milk

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1-2 tbsp granulated sugar

Whisk the powdered milk mixture into the starter mixture until smooth (don’t worry about over-mixing like regular pancake batter). It should be a bit thinner than regular pancake batter and sort of foamy.

Grease the heated skillet with a bit of vegetable oil on a paper towel, then pour about 1/4 – 1/3 cup of the batter into the pan. The batter will spread out a bit, so I like to cook just one pancake at a time. The surface of the pancake will be covered in irregular-sized bubbles. Cook until the edges are slightly dry and the bottom is deeply golden, then flip using a thin spatula. Cook until the other side is just as deeply golden, about 30-45 seconds.

Serve warm with butter, syrup, etc…

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All content © Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen, 2011 – 2021. Please contact me before duplicating any content, including pictures. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.