Injera

Name: Injera
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Ethiopia
Ingredients: 400 g brown teff flour; 900 ml warm water; 1 tsp salt; Oil for the pan

Local name : እንጀራ

Teff flour and water fermented for three days, poured onto a hot plate and set with a surface of small eyes.

VeganGluten-free#teff#fermentation#flatbread#ethiopia#gluten-free

Photo : Edsel Little · CC BY-SA 2.0

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 30 min
Total: 45 min
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Medium

Method

Whisk the teff flour with 600 ml water in a large bowl. The batter should pour like single cream.
Cover with a cloth and leave at room temperature for 3 days. Brown water separates on the surface each day.
On the third day, ladle off the surface water. The batter smells sour and carries bubbles.
Take 150 ml of the batter and boil it with 200 ml water into a thick porridge. Cool it, then stir it back into the bowl with the salt.
Loosen with the rest of the water to the consistency of whole milk. Rest for 30 minutes.
Heat a large dry pan or a plate brushed with oil. Pour a ladleful in a spiral from the rim towards the centre.
Cover as soon as the eyes appear and cook for 90 seconds. Lift it out without turning: injera cooks on one side.
Stack the injera on a cloth with a layer between each, and cool them before rolling.

The porridge step, called absit, gelatinises part of the starch and gives injera its cloth-like flex. Without it the bread cracks when you roll it. Brown teff ferments faster than white teff.

Nutrition · per serving

Calories: 246 kcal
Protein: 6.9 g
Fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 50.9 g
Fibre: 1.8 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

What is the absit, the cooked-batter step, for?

You take 150 ml of batter and boil it with water, which gelatinises part of the starch. Stirred back into the bowl, it gives injera its cloth-like flexibility; without it the flatbread cracks when you roll it.

Do I flip the injera?

No, it cooks on one side only. Cover the pan as soon as the eyes appear, count 90 seconds, then lift it off as it is. Turning it would flatten the holes that define its surface.

Brown teff or white teff?

The brown teff used here ferments faster than white. If you work with white teff, expect to extend the three days before the batter smells clearly sour and bubbles.