Meskel Celebration 2013... UU Adoptee Style!

Happy Meskel 2013!

Meskel is an Ethiopian holiday that celebrates the finding of the "True Cross" by Saint Helen thousands of years ago. We've kind of adopted it (ha ha) as our Ethiopian Fall holiday since I always miss Ethiopian New Year (which is on 9/11) in the hectic back-to-school craziness. And also because on September 11 we New Yorkers don't usually feel too celebratory. 

In Ethiopia Meskel is celebrated by lighting bonfires. As the story goes, Saint Helen had a dream in which she learned that the cross upon which Jesus was crucified would be revealed to her in smoke. The next morning she lit a huge bonfire, and sure enough, the smoke trail led her to the spot where the cross was buried.  There is a lovely story about this year's celebration in Addis Ababa, with a bit of Ethiopian history included HERE.

Last year for Meskel we had a little fire on our roof. This year I looked up the date just in time, and we had a lovely time celebrating in a little backyard.

We light a fire in our barbecue. The kids had fun hunting up sticks to add to the coals. We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. The adults had some wine, the kids ate up lots of sugar.  We watched the fire burn and the sun set. I told them a "Unitarian Universalized-ed*" version of the story of Meskel. (see below) 

Like all holidays (is it just my family?) this one ended with tears and drama. There may have been some storming off and some yelling. But I don't have photos of that part. So I'll just hold on to this:

pile on Daddy! don't drop the wine!

waiting for the fire to catch

s'mores!

* Our family are Unitarians. Huh? Go here. 

The Story of Meskel (adapted)

Many many years ago, a wise and powerful woman named Helen was searching for something very important to her, something that she believed would bring health, unity and inspiration to her people.  She was looking for the wooden cross upon which Jesus, the great teacher and rabbi, had died. One night she dreamt that if she lit a big fire the smoke would show her where the cross was. So the next day, she had her servants light a bonfire. And sure enough, the smoke made a trail that led her to where the cross was buried.  Her people rejoiced and shared pieces of the cross far and wide.  Those ancient pieces of wood still inspire and bring hope to people all over the world.

Every year in Ethiopia people light bonfires to celebrate Meskel (which means Cross).  Families gather around the fires, coming together in hope and celebration.  Perhaps if we look into the smoke, we will find something we are searching for.  Perhaps we will find something to inspire us...

Recipe: Tuesday night Doro Wat

Doro wat is a spicy chicken stew. The following is my own interpretation of an Ethiopian classic. Doro wat is traditionally made for feast days, weddings and other big celebrations. In Ethiopia, of course, (even in the city), to make doro wat requires that you first pick out, butcher, pluck, gut and clean a chicken.  Hence the reason it is reserved for holidays, not Tuesday nights.

We've skipped those steps here. :)  I use chicken thighs because it gives the richest taste. Chicken legs would also work, and you could skip step 6.

Doro wat keeps very well in the fridge for a couple of days, or the freezer for a couple of months. And yes, it is quite spicy! To make a mild version, substitute turmeric and bit of cumin for the berbere.

Please note: I'm the kind of cook who measures only for baking. So, if you need, like, exact times and how many cups and tablespoons and stuff, check out these recipes instead: Monday's Menu

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper and a bit of lemon juice. (I used about 10 chicken thighs)

2. Finely chop 2 onions, 4 cloves of garlic and about 2 inches of ginger. Saute in about 3 spoonfuls of oil (or butter).

3. Add 2 big spoonfuls of berbere, and one teaspoon of cardamon. Berbere is hot! so use carefully.

4. Once this mixture is nice and cooked- about 5 minutes, add the chicken skin side down and cook, covered for 10 minutes or so.

5. Add 4 or 5 canned whole tomatoes and a bit of the tomato juice. Add some water or chicken stock if your sauce is starting to dry out.

6. Once chicken is fully cooked, take it out of the pan and set aside to cool. Once cool, pull off the meat and discard skin and bones. Return meat to the sauce to cook a bit more.

7. Stew is done when it smells so good you can't stand waiting any longer!

* Traditionally doro wat is served with hard boiled eggs.  If you like, boil the eggs separately and then add them just at the end to heat a bit.

We ordered our berbere from our friend, the internet.

after canned tomatoes are added you'll need to squash them a bit

cooling chicken- my definition of cool enough to work with is still pretty hot.

The sauce bubbling on the stove without meat

almost done! Redder = hotter

I usually serve doro wat with some milder sides like potatoes or bread, or injera!

At long last: Injera

Apparently there are folks who have found this blog while looking for injera recipes. Ha ha ha ha ha... I'm sorry dear readers.  Thanks for sticking around, even though the recipes are few and far between. :)

I have at long last begun to live up to this page's name: We made injera!  (And ate it too!)

In between our half-hearted potty training and our desperate sleep training and our attempts to keep our tempers with our sometimes surly little boy (who thinks he's 16 instead of 6 some days), this week we had a hugely successful parenting moment.  As evidenced by the huge grin of our boy, who declared after his first bite "It's tastes like Ethiopia!"  That sentence will feed my soul for weeks and weeks...

Here is the recipe that we followed, by another adoptive mom/blogger and wonderful recipe sharer: INJERA RECIPE HERE

Injera is time consuming.  It is a labor of love.  Injera is made from a yeasty fermented dough (like pancake mix, only with lots of bubbles.) So at least a week before actually cooking the batter you have to make a start.  You can then store your start in the fridge and keep using it (like a sourdough starter).

  "START" RECIPE HERE. 

Note: It is very important to make your start in a super large tupperware. Otherwise when it ferments and doubles you will have a sticky, gooey, hard-to-clean-up mess in your pantry. (Guess how I know that?!)

The morning of the night you'd like to make and eat injera, you use your start to make the batter. The batter needs to sit all day to get nice and bubbly.  I didn't time my cooking and start-making very well and ended up needing to make injera on a Tuesday. Which meant a little panicked rushed batter blending in the morning, and a trip home at lunch time to start making doro wat (chicken stew) because ohmygod, what are we going to eat with all this injera! And a bit of extra snack and TV watching in the afternoon so we could get it all done and actually eat dinner before bedtime. This is definitely a weekend or holiday activity in future.  

Morning of : blending the start, teff flour, and water. 

Our batter in the morning.

This is the teff flour we are using. It is dark and very potent!

Injera batter before we start cooking- see all the bubbles!

Lily tries a taste. Hmm... a little sour?

I was a little terrified about how much batter we were going to be cooking up.

Our injera pan: a dedicated utensil, not sullied by frying eggs or grilled cheese. Yes, it's square. Don't tell anyone.

The top of the injera as it cooks- getting nice and airy. Injera is only cooked on one side- no flipping!

"This is how how you pour it Mommy. You go around, and around and around. Like this."

Injera topped with spicy lentils, doro wat, butternut squash and greens. YUM!

It ended up being a delicious evening. And we didn't have any leftovers! Most miraculously, making injera together helped Daniel remember helping his first mother cook. A precious, precious memory for him, forever enshrined in the taste of yeasty, bubbly, hot injera.

Next I'll write up my recipe for doro wat. It is totally not authentic, but it works well for Tuesday night dinners and if Daniel gobbles it up, it must be good!

Meskel Celebration 2012...

September 27 marked the annual Meskel holiday in Ethiopia. Meskel celebrates the "finding of the true cross" by Queen Helena in the 4th century.  Across Ethiopia, Orthodox Christians burn bonfires to celebrate. Read all about it here.

Here in New York, we celebrated with a little home style Ethiopian feast- sega wat, fosalia and atkilt. (Find recipes here.) Then we roasted some s'mores over our charcoal grill.  Amazingly, nobody's hair was set on fire, fingers remained unsinged and smoke damage was minimal. Despite their best efforts at setting themselves and their clothes on fire, they went to bed with all their limbs intact.  Score, mom!

Waiting for daddy to light the fire. See how I'm holding them back? :)

It's been a challenge so far to incorporate Ethiopian holidays into our life. I remain committed to keeping connected to Daniel and Lily's birth culture, but a there a couple of ways in which it can be difficult. First of all, we aren't Ethiopian Coptic Christians. Most Ethiopian holidays are religious ones, and celebrated with long worship services, religious parades, fasts and other religious service. We have promised ourselves that one Sunday we'll hike up the the Ethiopian church in Harlem, but the 8AM to NOON worship service scares me. 4 hours keeping my kids calm and quiet during a service in another language? YIKES!

S'mores! Fire!

 I have a lot of respect for the intensity and focus of Ethiopian holidays. From my extensive research reading on Wikipedia it seems that most holidays are celebrated very simply: worship, prayer, and a homemade feast with extended family. Not a greeting card, elf, fairy, elaborate decorating style or color scheme in sight. So when we take away the prayer/worship part, each holiday is just another chance to make doro wat.  Not that exciting....

So I was thrilled to learn of a holiday with an activity! And who doesn't like sitting with their family around a bonfire eating treats? Even if some members of the family remain determined to set themselves on fire?

Toasted marshmallows, yuck. Graham crackers? mmm.....

Next year, maybe we'll actually buy some wood to have a proper fire, and have some friends over to help us celebrate Ethiopian bonfire night!

I wonder if they have s'mores in Addis Ababa? How can I make them more habeshi.... hmm... maybe a little berbere sprinkled on the marshmallows?