Firfir may not win any beauty contests, but it’s the kind of meal that’s meant to be eaten with your hands, not your eyes. Firfir is every bit as special, no matter how simple. Firfir is another one of my new favorites. It is an excellent way to use leftover injera that is past its prime but still edible.
Why? Because no single food is more uniquely, awesomely, authentically Ethiopian than quanta firfir. I eventually found myself manically craving quanta firfir when I was forced the indignity of going a couple days without. Ugly but tasty; that’s firfir, alright. Made from torn pieces of injera, it’s a thrifty way to use day-old bread and a few pantry staples.
When I first moved to Ethiopia, I hated this dish. Injera topped with injera, I used to call it. My logic was that it was like having a burrito stuffed with old tortilla bits. But as the months passed, I came to to love this big, scrappy mess of a meal.
Mercifully, that also means there’s no wrong way to do it, either. There’s no “correct” way to make firfir. It’s a dish of memory more than measurement. You’ll find variations all across Ethiopian households, each adapted as the technique passed through the hands of generations of cooks. Some are fiery hot, others more mild. Some brightened with fresh tomatoes, others simply use tomato paste or sauce.
Understanding Firfir
But what, you ask, is a fitfit? A fitfit is a class of Ethiopian recipe where torn bread - usually but not always injera - is tossed with sauce. Kind of a loose, savory bread pudding. Fitfits are served cool, firfirs hot. (The word “firfir” is new to me; until Teff Love I had only seen the word “fitfit.”)
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If you like panzanella or bread pudding - or, more to the point, the stew-soaked injera at the bottom of a plate of Ethiopian food - you’re sure to love fitfit.
Injera, the spongy, sour flatbread at the heart of Ethiopian cuisine, is a flatbread I could never make from scratch. All it takes is teff flour, water, and salt, but that’s not the whole story. Days of fermentation are what create its signature flavor and texture before its spread in paper-thin layers, even finer than French crepes, demanding untold years of practice to master. Of course, leftover injera isn’t something I’ve ever had at my disposal, so rare and precious that every scrap is exhausted long before the stews alongside.
The one thing I really wouldn’t try to do is use a fake (as in quickie, non-sourdough) injera for the recipe. As injera is the main ingredient, the lack of the sourdough taste would ruin it for me (but that’s just my opinion).
Vegan Ethiopia Episode 1: Injera Bread
The Essential Spice: Berbere
There is no talking about firfir, or frankly, Ethiopian cuisine at all, without singing the praises of berbere. Crimson and potent as a red-hot flame, it’s the essential spice blend that pulses through almost every dish like a low, melodic hum. Like every other element of the cuisine, proportions vary from home to home, though it will always knock you off your feet with layers of complex flavor. Smoky chili peppers take the lead, supported by a chorus of garlic, ginger, fenugreek, cumin, cardamom, allspice, and more.
Read also: Authentic Ethiopian Cuisine
Berbere Spice Mix
Dirkosh Firfir Recipe
Injera is one of the most common foods in Ethiopia, people eat it in different ways. Dirkosh is a dried form of injera. Dirkosh Firfir is a really common food which is eaten daily in Ethiopian households. After coming to the US, one of the foods that I missed the most from back home was Dirkosh Firfir, and so I wanted to learn how to cook it. This is a way my family makes Dirkosh Firfir which I really like, and I want people to try it out for themselves by being able to make it at home.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Vegetable oil (or any oil preferred)
- 1/2 bowl Dirkosh (dried injera)
- 2 tablespoon Berbere (Ethiopian spice)
- 1 Onion
- 1 tablespoon Salt
- Black pepper(optional)
Instructions:
- Onions:
- Cut 1 onion into very small sizes.
- Put onion in a large pot and heat them in a medium temperature for about 5 minutes while stirring.
- At this point the onions will start turning brown from the heat which is a good sign that they are well heated.
- Adding Oil and Adjusting Temperature Level:
- Add 1 1/2 tablespoon of oil and keep stirring for about 2 minutes.
- At this point turn the temperature of the stove to medium-high.
- Adding Berbere and Water:
- Add 2 tablespoons of Berbere and stir for about 2 minutes(you can do 1-4 tablespoons depending on how spicy you want the food to be).
- Add 1 glass of water and keep stirring gently for about 5 minutes (When adding the water make sure to add some portion every minute while stirring and not the whole water at once).
- Adding Black Pepper:
- Add a few drops of black pepper.
- Continue to stir gently for about 2 minutes.
- Adding Salt, Dirkosh, and Adjusting Temperature Level:
- Add ½ tablespoon of salt (can be increased/decreased depending on how salty you want it to be).
- Turn the temperature of the stove to low at this point.
- Add ½ bowl of dirkosh to the pot and stir very well so that the dirkosh gets soft enough to eat.
- Rest Time:
- Place the dirkosh on a plate. Allow to rest.
- After about 3 minutes of rest, you can complement the dirkosh firfir you just made with different foods like boiled eggs, rice, and bread.
Another Firfir Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 1 Onion
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Tomatoes
- Jalapeños
- Berbere
- Salt
- Tomato sauce
- Torn injera
Instructions:
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil.
- Once shimmering, add the onion, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and jalapeños.
- Sauté for 6 - 8 minutes, until aromatic and lightly browned around the edges.
- Sprinkle in the berbere and salt, stirring well to incorporate.
- Cook for 1 - 2 minutes to temper the spices.
- Add another 2 tablespoons of oil if desired, for extra richness, before mixing the tomato sauce into the saucepan.
- It should look like a thick tomato soup at this point.
- Simmer for 4 - 5 minutes before adding the torn injera.
- Continue cooking until the flatbread has absorbed the liquid; 1 - 2 minutes.
Tips and Variations
- Note that we're not fucking around here. This meal isn't for amateurs. Before you can even make this recipe, you need to have some old injera on hand. Take that injera and tear it into bite-size pieces (roughly 1-2 inch squares). Set it all out on a cooling rack or some other place where it can dry completely.
- You'll also need to make a batch of the stuff fresh for this meal. It's a lot of legwork, but you can also pick the stuff up easily enough if you live near an Ethiopian restaurant or grocer. (Tell the proprietor you're making quanta firfir and you'll probably get invited to their house for the next holiday.)
- Heat a dry saucepan over medium heat. Add oil and saute another couple minutes. Add berbere and continue to saute. The mixture will start to stick. When it does, add a couple TBSP of the water. Repeat this process until you only have 3/4 of a cup of water left. Now stir in the injera chips VERY GENTLY, so as not to break them. Continue to stir gently until all the liquid is absorbed.
- Cook the onions for several minutes until they start to soften and turn translucent.
- Add the oil. When the oil is hot add the berbere and stir. After a few minutes, add the tomato paste and cook for several more minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and a bit of salt, and cook on low-medium heat until the tomatoes are thoroughly cooked. Add the water and bring to a simmer.
- Add the injera and stir, gently chopping the injera as you mix it in. Continue cooking until the injera has absorbed all of the liquid.
- This can be made without the fresh tomatoes if you don’t have them. The amount of water you use will depend on the amount of injera you use. Less injera -> less water. As always, the amount of ginger and garlic is undefined. I would guess that I use maybe 2-3 tsp. of minced ginger and the equivalent of four or five cloves of garlic. You could substitute powdered ginger if you don’t have fresh on hand.
Serving Suggestions
Timeless, foolproof, and always well-received, firfir can be enjoyed for any meal.
Complementing Dirkosh Firfir
Now that you have finished cooking your delicious Dirkosh Firfir and it is still warm, you can complement your dirkosh with a side of bread; it is time to call your friends and family over for a visit.
After about 3 minutes of rest, you can complement the dirkosh firfir you just made with different foods like, boiled eggs, rice and bread.
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