Last month, during a visit to Los Angeles, I make time to meet with friends Jalansutra Communities who live there. Who successfully collected was Chaniago Dinah Lee and her husband, Ken Lee, and Kwok Martini. Last year, when on vacation in the homeland, Dina had joined a walk to the Community Jalansutra Petaksembilan together. Dina worked at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), Ken in his Bappenas United States. Martini, who has eight years of living in Los Angeles, working in a private company.
Dina and Ken and his wife picked me up at the hotel where we stayed in Century City. Incidentally, their home is not how far. So is the restaurant that became our goal in Culver City.
“Fassica”, Dina suggested restaurants, serving cuisine of Ethiopia. It has been over two decades since I last tasted the cuisine of Ethiopia. Therefore I immediately agreed to the proposal for “kumpulsutra” in this restaurant.
In the language of Ethiopia, fassica means Easter. Naming it could make me confused, considering the restaurant owners are a husband and wife from Ethiopia who are Muslims. Why would they put the name of the restaurant owned by Christian icons?
Apparently, in Ethiopia, more connotes the Easter feast. For 40 days, the Christians – especially those who are Roman Catholics – undergo rigorous fasts during the weeks of misery. Easter is the end of fasting and is marked with a party that presents a variety of tasty dishes.
The main food of Ethiopia is injera, not rice. Injera made from teff, a kind of wheat. At present, injera is also often made from a mixture of flour and wheat. However, in “Fassica”, its pristine injera made from teff 99% and 1% yeast to develop. Yeast is the rest of his day before making injera, which allowed air-fermentation. Sounds like the culprit knew the process of making out.
Teff (Eragrostis taffeta) is a kind of grass that berdaur once a year. When it is ripe, at the end of the trunk appeared a kind of grain barley (barley). As I recall, in childhood in Central Java I used to see this kind of seeds sold in the market as a substitute for rice, called canthel.
Teff is a plant that can be found widely in the highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea. In the second region, teff is used as staple food. Although this plant is also found in India and Australia, but is left wild and not harvested. Lately, teff began to be cultivated in the state of Idaho, United States, because it is considered as an important food for vegetarians. Rich in fiber, iron, calcium, carbohydrates, and proteins, teff do not contain gluten, making it suitable for those who are intolerant to gluten.
Display ready to eat injera is like a pancake (pancake) or a thin crepe wet, spongy, gray. It was also like a pancake, but a bit sour, like sour bread (sourdough). Injera torn a little, and used to “scoop” of side dishes are served. How to eat like this similar to the way the Mexican side dish using tortillas for wrapping. The difference is, tortillas made from wheat flour or corn flour, and used to roll the side dish in it – like a spring roll.
Largely determines the quality of injera dining experience. Same with the quality of rice in the culinary archipelago. When the rice fluffier and fragrant, the sauce alone was delicious. The same is true for injera. When the injera was good, food was so delicious.
Ethiopian side dishes usually served in a large dish. Mixed, but still seemed stacked separately. Ken ordered one dish combo (combination) of side dishes and one vegetarian dish again using meat (Fassica Special Combination). Martini was an adherent of a lifetime 100% vegetarian.
In the middle of the dish looks Fassica Special Combination of boiled chicken eggs with herbs like rendang. I can not hide the curiosity, and direct mencocolnya with a torn piece of injera. Apparently, once true, in general it was indeed very similar to rendang. Spicy tasty!
As a country that was never colonized, Ethiopia’s culinary independently, without pemengaruhan of foreign culinary elements. However, from appearances, we can see that in general the Ethiopian cuisine has similarities with India and other Asian cuisines.
The names of her cooking was difficult to memorize. Perhaps because we are not familiar with their unique language. In the dish Fassica Special Combination, for example, there are nine kinds of dishes with names difficult, namely: kitfo (minced beef), DORO wot (chicken cooked), alicha fit-fit (goat), yebere sitga TIBS (beef) , yemisir kik wot (lentil = vegetable semasam green beans), atkilit aiicha (cabbage), Gomen wot (vegetable mustard), kik yeater alicha (vegetable beans), eggs and rendang which is not named as a topping.
We agree that eating meat is our favorite kitfo. Ken therefore ordered one serving more kitfo to the maturity level and lower spiciness. Kitfo is roughly chopped beef and spiced. Can be presented in a raw, sauteed briefly, or even continue to cook until done. Marinade rich, very tasty. In presenting a medium-rare, it is very beautiful meat flavor.
Rendang eggs described above proved to be a part of DORO wot, chicken dishes. Pieces of chicken braised with red chili powder seasoning, onion, garlic, onions, and butter. Cook over low heat for a long time, so the chicken meat is tender, and spicy seasonings into chicken meat fibers. Even without the coconut milk, but the viscosity of the sauce makes this dish taste very similar to rendang.
Cuisine goat (alicha fit-fit) is not exactly how spicy. Spices that are sticking ginger and garlic. Both spices are mainly to reduce the smell of goat meat are often less favored people. Thin marinade, so that the mutton flavor was intense.
From the vegetarian dish, our favorite is the vegetable cabbage (atlikilit aiicha) which is also filled with carrots and potatoes. Carrots and potatoes sliced ??lengthwise. Chopped cabbage. Sauteed with spices and olive oil. Mayurnya vegetables are still crispy. Bean dishes-kacangannya – such as shiro wot and yemisir kik wot – as well?? Bole dipoedjiken “.
Unfortunately, we did not get to taste a variety of seafood dishes dati “Fassica”. Typically, whole fried fish with minimal seasoning, served on a piece of fresh vegetables. Ethiopia is very simple salad. Only consists of pieces of lettuce, sliced ??tomatoes and peppers, vinaigrette sauce typical of sour-sweet Ethiopia.
Although simple, “Fassica” turned out to have enough customers from various circles. This is mainly due to its location directly across from Sony Studios. Perhaps only Tommy Mottola, Mariah Carey’s ex-husband, has ever eaten there.
Mulugeta Lakew, the owner of “Fassica” very friendly to serve the guests. Seble, his wife, cum chef “Fassica” too often out of the kitchen to greet his guest. “The next best Ethiopian cuisine you can find, my friend, is unfortunately about 15.000 miles from here,” said Mulugeta proud of his wife’s cooking.
Both confusion when I asked permission to bring an empty bottle of dark beer native Ethiopia – stamp Judge Stout – as a collection. “But, you say nothing to nobody, OK?” Said Seble cautioned. According to Ken, maybe once a dark beer quality above the average was entered illegally.
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