I’m not crazy about injera, despite eating it more than a dozen times. It has a sour taste that is something some people like and others don’t. The texture is also a little spongy compared to other flatbreads, and it can get soggy when the dishes served on top soak in.
That said, a lot of people love injera! There’s a spot that sells the round elect griddles in the Ethiopian part of town, and they can be used for injera, crêpes or tortillas
I encourage you to still try Ethiopian food even if your friend didn’t like it.
I eat a wide variety of foods and try things from all around the world. I’ve realized it’s specific dishes, ingredients or perhaps spice combinations within a cuisine I might not like, not the entire cuisine.
There’s a link for the Ethiopian Spaghetti in this thread I might order a take-out Ethiopian Spaghetti some time.
We lived in Ethiopia for a month at a time twice. You can get very correct Italian-style spaghetti in the most unlikely places. And then you can get the version described in the link, which is an Ethiopian-spiced sauce over the pasta. We also had some other interesting variations. Spaghetti with “vegetables” came with just chopped olives. A rendition of chow mein featured spaghetti noodles with cabbage and carrots.
We had lots of Ethiopian food of course, which was wonderful and was wider in variety than what is available in restaurants here. The injera was all 100% teff, which unfortunately led to a let down returning to the injera here (sometimes with teff, but blended with other grains).
I’ve failed to find ‘100% teff’ Injera here since Covid. Have you had any luck?
The mixtures somehow seem ‘slimy’ to me, wheras the ‘genuine’ is certainly spongy, but seems much drier.
I have not found it in recent years. Teff is grown (or at least was being grown) in the US, so it was possible to source without huge expense.
When we ask, most often they are mixing flours such as barley, millet, and rice, all of which lead to that gooey, slightly slimy feel rather than the drier, spongy texture of just teff (and also a completely different taste).
