11740 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito | (510) 778-1905 | FB: @tasteofethiopiaelcerrito | Door Dash or Grub Hub Vegetarian injera—a type of Ethiopian sourdoughrisen
flatbread with a spongy texture
that is brownish-grey in color. Small
portions of each of the five entrees
were colorfully displayed on the pan,
accompanied by a serving of fresh green
salad topped with delicious vinaigrette
dressing, and servings of the Buticha
and Azifa, as promised. We were also
served a basket with several additional
pieces of injera rolled up neatly like
napkins. I wasn’t sure what to do with
the injera at first, so I asked and was told
that we were supposed to wrap small
amounts of the food in small pieces of
the injera using our hands, and then eat
it together. While the prospect of using
our hands to wrap the food in the injera
was somewhat intriguing, we opted to
take forks when they were offered to us!
My guest preferred not to try to
injera, so he proceeded to eat bites of
food using his fork. I, however, did
try the injera, wrapping several bites of
the different entrees and eating them as
instructed. But my initial reaction was
that the injera didn’t have much flavor,
and I wasn’t exceptionally fond of the
32 MARKETPLACECONTRACOSTA.COM APRIL 2019
spongy texture. I decided to eat the rest
of my meal like my guest, using just
the fork. With each bite I took, I tried
to discern which entrée sample I was
eating. Some were easier to identify
than others. Our platter included the
following entrees: Yesmir wot—split
lentils simmered in berbere (ground red
semi-spicy chili peppers mixed with upwards
of 20 herbs and spices); garlic, ginger and
a blend of Ethiopian herbs and spices;
Matakite wot—steamed cabbage and
carrots seasoned with herbs, onion,
garlic and ginger; Ater kik alecha
wot—yellow split peas prepared with
onion, ginger, garlic and turmeric;
Gomen—collard greens sautéed in
onions and other spices; Dinich Wot—
spicy potatoes flavored with herbs and
spices. As we were indulging in the
items on our combo platter, the separate
Dinich wot (spicy potato entrée) was
served with a generous mound of spicy
potatoes accompanied by an equally
generous portion of green salad, and
more servings of injera.
As you may have surmised from the
descriptions of the food ingredients, the
essence of Ethiopian cooking lies in the
spices. Exotic spices and fresh herbs are
combined to create delicious and unique
flavors. Although the food wasn’t
exceptionally “hot” from the spiciness,
it certainly was spicy enough to make
my nose run extensively! After several
bites, it was hard to discern which of
the foods was more spicy than another.
I was glad that we had chosen to drink
water with our meal, as that countered
some of the spiciness. My guest quite
enjoyed the spicy potatoes, the salad,
and the cabbage and carrots. I enjoyed
these items also, but also found the
red lentils and the split peas to be very
delicious.
At the end of our meal, the
Sambusas appetizer was finally served.
Tigist offered apologies for the extreme
delay. She was the primary cook during
that evening, and she had been busy
preparing orders for the several in-house
diners as well as a couple of take-out
orders. The Sambusas are hand made
to order and take a bit longer to make.
The finished appetizer consisted of two
triangular golden brown, plump puff
Combination Plate
Bezu, Tsege (Owner), and Tigist.