Beyaynetu

It is an assortment on one injera, and the fasting version leaves out dairy as well as meat.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 4 injera, as on its own page
• 1 quantity shiro, as on its own page
• 250 g red lentils
• 400 g collard greens, shredded
• 300 g white cabbage, shredded
• 3 carrots, in batons
• 2 potatoes, in chunks
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons berbere
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 teaspoons salt

Method

1. IT IS AN ASSORTMENT ON ONE INJERA, AND THE FASTING VERSION LEAVES OUT DAIRY AS WELL AS MEAT. Its article explains the name -- bäyaynätu CAN BE TRANSLATED AS VARIOUS OR ASSORTED, INDICATING THE WIDE RANGE OF INGREDIENTS -- and names the vegetable-only style as ʾätkəlt bäyaynätu or yetsom bäyaynätu, where YETSOM SIGNIFIES FASTING, the period when members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ABSTAIN FROM CONSUMING MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCTS FOR SEVERAL WEEKS.
2. SO THE FASTING VERSION IS NOT MERELY MEATLESS, AND THAT CHANGES THE COOKING. No niter kibbeh anywhere: oil in every pot, including the shiro, as on its own page, which is why that dish is written with oil and not butter.
3. IT IS A PLATE, NOT A RECIPE, AND THE INJERA IS THE PLATE. The article has it COMBINING INJERA WITH A VARIETY OF INGREDIENTS. One bread laid flat, the dishes spooned around it in heaps that touch.
4. COOK THE LENTILS PLAINEST OF ALL. Onion softened in oil, turmeric, lentils, water to cover, twenty-five minutes until they slump. No berbere in this one -- something on the plate has to be mild.
5. THE GREENS GO IN A DRY-ISH PAN WITH GARLIC AND NOTHING ELSE. Collards shredded fine, a splash of water, a lid, fifteen minutes. They should stay green.
6. THE CABBAGE, CARROT AND POTATO COOK TOGETHER WITH TURMERIC. Twenty minutes, barely any water, until the potato gives. This is the yellow heap.
7. ONE DISH CARRIES THE BERBERE AND THE REST DO NOT. Two tablespoons into the shiro and that is enough for the plate; spice everything and the assortment stops being one.
8. ARRANGE THEM IN SEPARATE HEAPS AND DO NOT STIR. The point is that each mouthful can be a different combination, taken with a torn piece of the bread underneath.
9. SERVE IT AT ROOM TEMPERATURE RATHER THAN HOT. Five pots cannot all arrive hot, and the dish does not want them to.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Ethiopia · All recipes