Teff Flatbread and Dried Meat
A large spongy, slightly sour flatbread made from fermented teff flour, which serves as both plate and bread. Strips of dried, spiced meat are placed on it, and you pick them up with pieces of flatbread.
A large spongy, slightly sour flatbread made from fermented teff flour, which serves as both plate and bread. Strips of dried, spiced meat are placed on it, and you pick them up with pieces of flatbread.
On the trail, there's no table or silverware: the flatbread IS the plate, and you eat with your fingers like everyone else, from the chief to the donkey! The teff ferments for a night or two and takes on that sour taste that surprises at first, then you crave it. The meat is dried in the sun with chili so it lasts the journey — tear off a piece of flatbread, pinch the meat inside, and walk: the road is long to the sea.
- •Teff flour — for the flatbread (fermented base)
- •Water — according to dough (fermentation)
- •Dried beef — strips (road protein)
- •Spice blend (berbere) — as desired (preservation and flavor)
Teff Flatbread and Dried Meat
A large spongy, slightly sour flatbread made from fermented teff flour, which serves as both plate and bread. Strips of dried, spiced meat are placed on it, and you pick them up with pieces of flatbread.
Why this dish? During his trading expeditions between Harar and the coast, Rimbaud lived at the pace of caravans, sharing the local food: fermented teff flatbread and dried meat that kept in the heat.
On the trail, there's no table or silverware: the flatbread IS the plate, and you eat with your fingers like everyone else, from the chief to the donkey! The teff ferments for a night or two and takes on that sour taste that surprises at first, then you crave it. The meat is dried in the sun with chili so it lasts the journey — tear off a piece of flatbread, pinch the meat inside, and walk: the road is long to the sea.
Ingredients (period version)
- Teff flour — for the flatbread (fermented base)
- Water — according to dough (fermentation)
- Dried beef — strips (road protein)
- Spice blend (berbere) — as desired (preservation and flavor)
Ingredients
- Teff flour — 200 g (fermented base)
- Water — 300 ml (dough)
- Dried beef (or Bündnerfleisch) — 150 g (protein)
- Berbere spice mix — 1 tsp (spices)
- Spiced clarified butter (niter kibbeh) — 1 tbsp (flavored binder)
Method
- Mix teff flour and water into a thin batter, cover, and let ferment for 1 to 2 days at room temperature (it becomes sour and bubbly).
- Pour the batter in a spiral onto a lightly oiled hot pan, cover, and cook over low heat without flipping until small holes appear: the flatbread should remain pliable.
- Reheat the dried meat with a little clarified butter and berbere.
- Spread the flatbread like a plate, place the spiced meat in the center.
- Tear off pieces of flatbread to pick up the meat, without utensils.
How it was made : Teff injera, naturally fermented, has been the staple food of the Ethiopian highlands for centuries: it serves as plate and utensil. The heavily spiced dried meat allowed protein to be preserved during long caravan journeys, without ice or abundant sea salt.
The contemporary twist : Roll the flatbread and meat into a 'poet-merchant wrap' for a nomadic travel snack revisited.
Arthur Rimbaud · Charactorium