Going Out for Ethiopian Food

Thursday after we got the news that our application had been accepted by America World, we decided to celebrate by going out for Ethiopian food.

We went to Abbysinia which isn't too far away in Raleigh near NC State. None of us had ever eaten Ethiopian food before, so this was an adventure!

We asked our server, Sampson, for advice, and he suggested the vegetarian combination and the Kay Wat. We also added two of the sambusa as an appetizer.

We waited forever for the food because it was made fresh. The sambusa were delicious! They were fillo-looking pastries stuffed with lentils or beef that had been cooked with onions and peppers, and then it was fried. So, of course, it was good!

Our main course came on a huge, round platter. Around the outside of the platter were collards, cracked yellow peas, cabbage, salad, and split lentils. In the middle of the circle, Sampson dumped a bowl of prime rib cubes that had stewed in a red pepper sauce with "Ethiopian spices."

We did not get silverware. We were served huge sourdough pancakes called "injera." We tore pieces of the pancake off and grabbed bites of the food with it. It had a very interesting flavor to it -almost vinegary to me. The kids enjoyed squishing it in their hands because it was spongy and stretchy. Annika stuffed a bite of it into her mouth on our way out of the restaurant. When we got home, she ran to the garbage and spit a wad of injera out of her mouth. She didn't like it, so she didn't want to eat it! (But she held it in her mouth for 10 minutes!)

They had no chocolate cake.

~Susan