A Yemeniyah's Recipes

[Picture will be available soon Insha Allah]

This is my friend Amal Katabay’s recipe. Very quick and delish. It’s made with Ethiopian bread, called ‘Injera’. You can either find it at Ethiopian stores or Middle Eastern stores.

You will need [for 2 people]: 

1) Buttermilk [I would say two cups–and some extra. Enough to soak the injera in]

2) 2 stalks of green onions finely chopped

3) 2 tblsp of cilantro finely chopped

4) hot green pepper–optional and

For Sahaweg [homemade hot sauce that can be used as a dip as well for samboosa , bagya but add lemon juice to it etc.]:

1) one tomato [not mushy, and preferably yet a little green]

2) clove of garlic

3) 1 hot green pepper [less if you don’t like it spicy]

5) salt to taste

6) 2 tblsp of cilantro

Place in blender and blend well. Keep aside.

So, let’s start assembling: 

It’s best if you heat the Injera–you can zap it a few seconds in the microwave. Be careful not a lot because it will harden. You want it nice, hot and soft. Take a serving dish, preferably flat, and layer with a single Injera .

Then in another bowl add the buttermilk, vegetables, and as much of the homemade hot sauce [Sahaweg]. Mix well and pour on the Injera. Refrigerate to let it it soak well. You can add more butter milk and adjust the salt if it the Injera has soaked all the mixture up. It’s nice when it’s not too soggy or too thick. It’s such a cool dish for Ramadan. Try it.

This is one of my favorite recipes for Ramadan. I actually got it from a Yemeni acquaintance. She made the best Shafoot ever, and I followed her instructions to a T and it turned out great. She gave me the two thumbs up, and that was an honor.

You will need: 

1) 3 cloves garlic

2) 1 green chilly pepper

3) 1 whole bunch of cilantro

4) 1 whole bunch of green onions [cut of the while onion part, we just need the green part]

5) 1 whole bunch of mint [just the leaves]

6) 4 red radishes

7) 1 roma tomato

8) juice of one lemon

9) salt to taste

10) 1 tblsp of ground cumin

11) 1 tub of whole yogurt

12) whole milk for thinning

In bender place all of the vegetable with the cumin. Blend well and keep aside. Then using a hand cake mixer, mix the yogurt until smooth. It will be thick, so you need to thin it with the milk. So gradually add a quarter of a cup of milk at a time and keep on mixing until it buttermilk thick and nice and frothy. Add the blended vegetables and keep on mixing with the cake mix. Add the lemon and keep on mixing for a minute or two, while adding salt to taste. Keep on tasting until the salt is to your taste.

Now it is time to make the Lahoh [bread that you will be soaking with the above yogurt mixture]. Use 1 cup of Aunt Jemima pancake mix, and 1/2 cup of white flour, 1tsp of baking powder and water in a blender. Consistency should be like pancake batter. Heat a skillet and make 2-3 thick pancake looking lahoh.

In a serving dish–usually big and flat–spoon some of the yogurt mixture and arrange the pancakes around it [it’s okay to cut the pancakes up to make them fit and cover the whole dish]. Spoon most if not all of the mixture slowly as the pancake soaks it up. You can use it all or most of it [depending on how runny you like it], and store the rest for future use. It stores well for up to one week.

Decorate with pomegranate seeds or green grapes. Enjoy!