Our family is no stranger to Ethiopian food. In fact, we love it! We make it a habit to visit the local restaurants as well as the markets so we can make it at home. And we certainly find Gotcha Day a great excuse to celebrate our daughter's Ethiopian heritage.
Now I'll be honest here. I haven't made Ethiopian food in probably two and a half years. The last time I made it was when I posted the recipes here on my blog! It's not that it's all that hard. It is just very time consuming. And, well, with two littles in the house....I don't have a lot of extra time to spend in the kitchen. So our normal celebration does in fact take place at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant.
This year, however, when we started planning Cocoa's Gotcha Day, my husband requested that I make the feast. And I welcomed the challenge!
In the past I have only tried three recipes:
The traditional chicken stew and my personal favorite - Doro Wot.
The Shiro Wot - ground chickpeas in an onion/garlic base that looks about the texture of hummus.
The Ethiopian version of a tomato salad - Yetimatim Saleta.
Oh yes, and the Hambisha Bread...which I skipped this year only because the market had some freshly baked and my husband thought he would save me some time (isn't he thoughtful?).
But this year I thought I would really out do myself (HA!) by adding in some of our favorite recipes that I found in the Ethiopian cookbook a friend from church gave me as a baby shower gift! So I also made Messir Wot (a lentil based dish) and Curried Cabbage and Potatoes (which is just like it sounds).
I started cooking around 1:30pm and dinner was ready at about 7:00pm. We invited a couple friends to join us, because - let's face it, we can't eat all that food ourselves!
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| Cocoa Puff in her Ethiopian Scarf |
This year, however, when we started planning Cocoa's Gotcha Day, my husband requested that I make the feast. And I welcomed the challenge!
In the past I have only tried three recipes:
The traditional chicken stew and my personal favorite - Doro Wot.
The Shiro Wot - ground chickpeas in an onion/garlic base that looks about the texture of hummus.
The Ethiopian version of a tomato salad - Yetimatim Saleta.
Oh yes, and the Hambisha Bread...which I skipped this year only because the market had some freshly baked and my husband thought he would save me some time (isn't he thoughtful?).
But this year I thought I would really out do myself (HA!) by adding in some of our favorite recipes that I found in the Ethiopian cookbook a friend from church gave me as a baby shower gift! So I also made Messir Wot (a lentil based dish) and Curried Cabbage and Potatoes (which is just like it sounds).
I started cooking around 1:30pm and dinner was ready at about 7:00pm. We invited a couple friends to join us, because - let's face it, we can't eat all that food ourselves!
I'll admit, we don't have the best lighting in our dining room, especially in the evening. I did the best I could to photoshop them, but I'll admit that food photography isn't my best skill!
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| I think she liked it, don't you??? |
When Cocoa joined our family, we not only gained the best daughter parents could ask for, but an amazing culture and heritage. And we get the joy and honor to celebrate it with her! We are so blessed.
If you want to try cooking some Ethiopian food yourself, you can get my recipes right here (except the Messir Wot and Curried Cabbage....I wouldn't feel right about sharing them since I got them out of a recipe book).
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