Friday, August 9, 2013

Ethiopean food

This was the first time I was having Ethiopian food and I must say I was mighty impressed in the variety. Like their site says “come taste and enjoy”

Our friends took us to this place named Walia in San Jose, California. Even though we were late for lunch (as per the normal lunch time) I was surprised that we were served with some excellent and tasty food.
The guys who run the place were warm, friendly and informative.
As we waited for the main course to arrive nursing our drinks, I was observing the ambiance.

I liked the drawings that adorned the walls.




The Injera with mixed vegetables was what we ordered. It comes in a very big plate which was shared among five of us. The items that went into the plate were:


Vegetarian:
Misir Wot (red lentils)
Alicha Wot (split yellow peas)
Shiro (chick peas)
Gomen (collard greens)
Atkilit Wot (cabbage carrot)
As they added the items to the plate our eyes widened.

Poultry:
House Doro Wot (chicken stew)

Lamb:
Yebeg tibs (Lamb tibs)

The Injera is made by mixing Teff flour with water and allowing it to ferment for several days.  It is served in rolls. The brown coloured base that you see in the big plate is also Injera.
The Injera rolls kept coming and we polished them quick and clean.
The five of us made sure that we did justice to the food and this was what was left in the plate.

Joseph was kind enough to give me the list of delicious items that was spread out (reproduced above)
A good place to have food and if I ever visit San Jose again, my first stop will be Walia.



PS:
Mail from Mr Joseph of Walia :

Joe,

Thank you so much for the write up. I can't wait till i put the link or Facebook page. We are very excited. We hope to see you very soon.

Warm regards,
Joseph

Sent from my iPad

18 comments:

  1. Love this .You have captured it all so well .cindy

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  2. I've heard of eating that way but I think it would be kind of awkward to all be grabbing food off the same plate. Are you in California for a holiday?

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    1. Yep was there for 3 weeks and am back in India now.

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  3. Looks yum! The Injera rolls look a little like appam.

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  4. You are about an hour north of me...enjoy your travels and tell me if you come south...

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    1. Oh that was pretty close Jeannette. We did not go south but flew to Vegas for a few days. Back in India now.

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    2. What a trip! and your chronicles of it are fun too...We would have been glad to shoe you aroundehere, but it seems like many wonderful places opened up to you.

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  5. Wow.. indeed nice sketches on the wall!

    www.volatilespirits.com

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  6. Hello. . . what a delicious meal. I've never eaten Ethiopian food and now if I find a restaurant I'll go in and order. Also, thank you for taking those photographs of the evocative drawings on the wall. I can see why you'd return to this restaurant. Peace.

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  7. I loved Ethiopian food the first time I had it. I remember thinking I was having Ethiopian Dosa and Sambhar due to similar taste :)

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  8. It's been many years since I've eaten Ethiopian food. I should try it again, as my taste buds and sense of adventure has matured.

    I hope you enjoyed your visit here. Business, pleasure, or both? How often do you visit the US?

    Thanks for sharing your meal. It plants a seed for your readers to experiment with different foods; at least the ones who are reluctant. :)

    I love the drawings, too. I've always thought Ethiopians to be very attractive.

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  9. The drawings are lovely. And I'm so excited to hear they were serving collard greens...I love collard greens!
    Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

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  10. vow that was a very delicious account.. must try out this cuisine sometime...

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  11. I've not had Ethiopian cuisine but I've had Zambian and Malawian cuisine. This sounds quite interesting too. Liked reading the details you've mentioned here. Although I am not an expert on art, I've always enjoyed African art forms because of an inherent innocence, beauty and lack of pretentiousness. Your post with these sketches reminded me of my days in Africa. Brought back memories. Looking forward to more posts like these.

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  12. Very tempting. Wish I could reach out to that plate sitting here in Bangalore.
    A good bait to make that trip!

    Sunny

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  13. This entry has made me really hungry....

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