Making Teff Injera at Home
Written by: Lidia Yeibio
My husband and I love injera and eat it with 4-5 meals a week, when available. When we moved to a city with no Habesha stores around, I decide to give it a try and make it at home. Boy, did it make me cry though…. I bought the mogogo/mitad two years ago, and it was mostly used for Kicha, Gogo, and Himbasha. I would try different recipes and processes borrowed from friends and tried over and over, but my injera just wouldn’t come out good.
I gave up until my mom came to visit last year and decided to try again after seeing her perfect injera. I watched Youtube videos and got results of somewhat okay, but sticky, injera. My gracious husband kept encouraging me and would tell me, “it is edible. You should be proud of yourself” (bless his heart!).
It was after staying with my best friend in Nashville and seeing her process that really helped. I tried it after coming home and it finally worked!
When I first attempted to make injera at home, it took many many gallons of batter wasted, and my own labor hours lost before getting to this point. So, be patient and know that you may not make the perfect injera at first try, but you are well on your way.
Here’s my process for making Teff injera at home. Enjoy!
What You Need:
2 ½ cups of a starter mix, (If you don’t have it yet, you can make it by mixing 1 tbs of dry yeast, ¼ cup of Taff, and 2 cups of warm water and let it stay for 2 days to achieve the accurate sourness.) (Pic 1)
7-8 cups of Teff
6-7 cups of water
2 tbs of roasted ground fenugreek (optional)
Process:
Mix flour, starter, adding water - 3 cups first then 1 cup at a time until it’s smooth and flowing (medium to thin) consistency.
Add about 1 cup of water on top that you rinsed your hand or mixer with.
Leave mix for 2 ½ to 3 days. (Pic 2)
After 2.5-3 days, pour out water (tsillal) on top of the mix, and stir mix with a spoon until smooth. (Pic 3)
Take out 1 ½ cups of starter at this stage. (Before lafa)
(Pic 2)
(Pic 3)
Lafa:
Biol 2.5 cups of water in a small pot, add 1 cup of mix to it while stirring constantly with egg beater.
After mixing it well, let it boil on low heat for another 5-7 minutes. (Pic 4)
Turn off heat, put pot on a cool surface and leave it until completely cooled down. (Pic 5) If you’re in a hurry, you can let it cool to lukewarm then add ice water to it.
(Pic 4)
Back to process:
Blend the cooled lafa with additional cold water in a blender for 2-4 minutes, until completely smooth. (Pic 6)
Add the blend to the mix, stir very well.
Add 4-5 cups of cold water (or until baking consistency is achieved) excess water is better than less water because you can remove it before backing. (Pic 7)
Leave for another 4-6 hours or overnight (until water comes on top)
Refrigerate for 4-6 hours or overnight.
Stir very well to mix the water and bake at 275 degrees. (Pic 8)
(DO NOT ADD FRESH WATER AT THIS POINT) if you put extra water before, you can save it before stirring and add it as needed.
(Pic 5)
(Pic 6)
(Pic 7) You can see it’s consistency on my hand; I do it very thin
(Pic 8) Right before baking…
The Pros and Cons of Making Injera at Home:
Pros:
You know what you have in the injera unlike what you buy from the store- so it’s probably healthier
Completely gluten free for those who are gluten intolerant
Gives you a sense of achievement :)
Cons:
The time and scheduling of each step. This can be okay if you schedule every step very well
It can come out really bad if you have too much lafa, or too little of water :) It’s a game of precision and timing.
Also, the type of Mogogo I use is: Wass Mitad and I purchased it from the website below.
http://www.wasselectronics.com
Good luck, and let me know how it turns out for you!