Ethiopia: Recipes and traditions from the horn of Africa

I’ve loved Ethiopian food for some time now and as someone with celiac disease it’s really fulfilling to eat authentic traditional foods that my body can tolerate. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I bought this but I am completely blown away at how beautiful and perfect of a cookbook it is. The full color photos and little asides and anecdotes about how each dish fits into the culture is really excellent. The way that the recipes are presented is also perfect. As an example, the recipe for the fermented injera bread not only describes how to prepare everything over the course of days but also how it should look and feel at each stage. There is also a beautiful color photo for each stage of the process so that you can see how it should look. There’s even a photo showing you how the batter is poured onto the pan in a spiral pattern. All baking and fermentation recipes should be presented this way, but they almost never are. I cook lentils often so the lentil recipe was the first one I tried in here and my partner said that it was the best lentils I’ve ever made. Not bad for an incredibly simple recipe! As a fair warning though, you may find yourself suddenly needing to expand your spice cabinet once you dig into these recipes, but I’m fairly certain it will be worth it!

I HIGHLY recommend this book based on what I've tried so far. First of all, the explanations of the dishes are really interesting and educational. I read through most of the book before making my first attempt selections, and the details about ingredients was also really useful. While some of the spices are not going to be found at everyday grocery stores, it is WELL worth the investment to visit a spice store or order them online. As for the dishes, I made (for three people and also leftover lunch next day) the collard greens, the pumpkin stew (but with butternut squash), the yellow split peas and the doro wat chicken. Plus, I made the one-day injera recipe. Everything was truly outstanding, and we all agreed it was among our top favorite home cooked meals ever. I love cooking and I definitely worked on this meal for several hours, but it certainly paid off (and obviously making one or two dishes is less time consuming than four). Not to mention the book itself has beautiful photographs and displays nicely on our kitchen cart shelf. I also applaud the author. Despite that I've only eaten Ethiopian food maybe a dozen times in my life, the recipes felt accessible but also authentic. If you're looking to create some next-level showstopper meals, this book is for you. Very happy with this purchase and can't wait to try more.

I don't know when or where the famous expression "Food of the Gods" originated. However, one thing is certain, the writer undoubtedly had recently eaten Ethiopian food and the taste and scents were still lingering when they made that famous statement. This book is the best gathering of recipes, food prep and cooking techniques for the development of essential cooking skills for any cuisine that I have ever found. This is especially true for a cuisine as complex tasting as Ethiopian food. Before buying this cookbook I'd spent close to 40 years learning to make various Ethiopian foods, mostly on my own, with varying degrees of success. I'm not sure I fully understood Ethiopian food and cooking methods until I read and then reread this cookbook, especially a few of the back stories on ingredients, and how some recipes and cooking techniques were developed. This book taught me that complex and amazing tasting food doesn't always mean "difficult" or "too difficult" to do. Now, I don't just follow recipes but create great tasting Ethiopian cuisine and develop my own customized Ethiopian recipes and spice mixes. I am so proud and I cherish opportunities to share my Ethiopian buffets with family and friends, particularly my Ethiopian friends. I highly recommend this cookbook for home cooks of all levels and ages.

I appreciate and enjoy the history behind these recipes. Sharing culture is so important and is wonderfully represented in this book. The one thing I took issue with was the empty space. Soooo much wasted space. Many, many, many of the recipes lacked pictures and yet there’s a gaping gap between the title at the top and the recipe itself. It kind of makes this incredibly full book feel somewhat empty.

If you are an accomplished home cook and have access to a decent supply of the correct spices and spice mixes (internet available), you will find this a much more satisfactory intro to Etheopian cooking than many of the others out there that make naive substitutions on the assumption that you will not be able to source the necessary ingredients. Every recipe I have made from this has been a success...well, my first attempt at Injera was not so great !

We're enjoying this book. You can find some Ethiopian recipes scattered around the web, but it's nice to have a good book with an index, pictures, and explanation for things an American monoglot might not be familiar with. If you have no spices, there will be a big investment in the front end of your cooking. However, for more specialized spices, the book helpfully offers alternatives commonly available. We've dog-eared a number of recipes for the upcoming weeks, and we're really looking forward to it. Early dishes have been quite successful. We're no strangers to Indian, Mediterranean, Thai cuisine... and this book offers a lot of newness!

We love the variety of recipes in this, and also the cultural information throughout it! It’s such a great find, highly recommend!

This cookbook made me feel like i was literally in Ethiopia! The recipes are great i only wish there were photos for all of them but the recipes that have photos are just stunning. The non recipe photos are equally stunning! I am blown away at the detail its literally like im right there with them. I love this book sooo much!

This is more than just a recipe book - it’s an education and a journey to Ethiopia. Beautifully presented. I very much appreciate the recipe photos, as I need to see what the dish SHOULD look like, LOL. I also love the Ethiopian history, culture, and the traditions that are included thought out the book. There are lots of details added around each dish. I will hand this book down to my Ethiopian daughter. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Gorgeous cookbook, full of delicious, authentic recipes and stories behind them. Loads of culture and colourful photos. Love it!

Le livre présente de très belles images et fonctionne un peu comme un carnet de voyage. Les recettes sont authentiques et requièrent de fait de nombreux ingrédients un peu difficile à trouver.

Beautifully written, sensitive photography, excellent writing, authentic recipes and lovely binding. Who could want more?

A beautiful book with lots of pictures and background. There is an extensive range of recipes to try or adapt if you're not keen on hot spices or don't eat a particular type of meat.