An Ethiopian Feast - Injera is a Problem... So I Made Ployes

The next problem with making Ethiopian food is making the injera, upon which the entire cuisine rests. Quiet literally. Injera are big pancake-like breads made from a fermented teff batter. Teff is made from the flour of a seed traditionally eaten pretty much exclusively in the horn of Africa.

It is much more available now, and I probably could have gotten some if I tried. I didn't really try though, because it has not been uncommon for people to use buckwheat when teff was hard to get, and unlike teff buckwheat is produced locally.

The more difficult aspect of making injera is the fermentation part. I tried raising these pancakes (they are ployes, actually, about which a bit more in a minute) with yeast and leaving them to ferment over-night. The flavour was lovely but I could not get them not to stick to the pan. Ultimately, pressed for time, I made these.

These are a variation on ployes, a traditional Acadian buckwheat pancake that came out of traditional Breton buckwheat pancakes. Like injera, they were originally yeast fermented and used not solely as a sweetened breakfast food, but as a ubiquitous bread at every meal. They didn't (and still are not supposed to) contain any eggs. But mine continued to stick, and continued to stick, and finally in desperation I added a (large duck) egg to my batter and immediately they came out of the pan  like a dream.

If there is a way to get egg-free pancake batters to not stick to the pan I plainly don't know what it is, although I suspect the answer is to use a non-stick (Teflon) pan. I refuse to have them in the house, so it's a pancake stand-off that I am prepared to solve with eggs.

These are not very like the injera you get in Ethiopian restaurants, but I was reasonably satisfied with them. The buckwheat flavour went well with everything. Really perfect injera is notoriously difficult to make, and I suspect perfection rests on a long apprenticeship. In fact, we had some tenants from Ethiopia back when we were still landlords, and I once was able to try some injera they had made. It resembled these pancakes more than the very polished and technically sophisticated injera of the restaurants, so in the end I felt reasonably positive about using these.

I wanted to say much about the Acadian history of these ployes, but this is already a very long introduction so I will just say that there is lots of information out there if you want to know more. Maybe if there is anyone out there who can coach me on cooking egg-free pancakes I will give them another go sometime.

6 to 8 pancakes (2 to 4 servings)
40 minutes prep time

2 cups light buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
1 or 2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups cold water
1 1/3 cups boiling water, plus a bit more
1 little oil to cook the pancakes

Put a kettle of water on to boil.

Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add the oil, and break in the egg(s). Pour in the cold water and whisk until smooth.

Just before the water boils, use a bit of paper towel to grease as non-stick a skillet as you have (for me that's my stainless steel one) and heat it over medium-high heat. Turn on the oven to 200°C and put in a plate to receive the finished ployes. 

When the water boils, measure out 1 1/3 cups and whisk it in to the batter. Ladle out 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of batter. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for a minute or so, until the top of the pancake is dry all over.  Transfer the finished pancake to the plate in the oven.

Continue cooking pancakes, in the same way, greasing the pan a little more whenever needed. Also, the batter will thicken quite rapidly as it sits - add a little more hot water from the kettle when it needs to be thinned. A couple of tablespoons or so at a time will be a good amount.

Serve with butter and maple syrup... or with Ethiopian stews. 




Last year at this time I made Sausage Scrapple.

Posted in: Ontario Food