East Africa · Side
Injera (Spongy Sourdough Teff Flatbread)
Airy, naturally fermented sourdough flatbread characterized by a smooth bottom, tanginess, and thousands of steam-released honeycomb eyes.
The story
Across the highlands and lowlands of Eritrea, the Tigrinya and neighboring ethnic groups consume injera as the foundational edible plate and utensil for almost every daily meal. The grain teff is indigenous to the Horn of Africa, naturally gluten-free, and extraordinarily nutrient-dense. Achieving the essential honeycomb-like surface voids (called 'ayen') depends technically on the 'absit' stage, where a portion of the fermented batter is scalded with boiling water to gelatinize the starches before the final bake on an earthenware mogogo or covered electric griddle.
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