Recipe - Special Fata

I do apologize for not posting a blog last month. I could have sworn I did one, but maybe I wrote one and didn’t post it. Never mind, never mind, I’m doing it now and that’s the important thing. As a matter of fact, I’ve decided I should be doing one twice a month. I do, after all, have lots to say, and I mostly do this blog for myself, so…..there you have it.

A couple of blogs ago I promised a recipe and I have failed to follow through, so I figured it’s about dang time. Not to mention, I just ate this delectable dish and so I have it fresh in my mind.

I have to say that the unfortunate thing about Fata is that I’m one of only a handful of ferenjoch that actually really likes this stuff. I think the problem most people have with it is the consistency and the fact that often times there is Kibe in it. If I haven’t mentioned Kibe before, its Ethiopian butter that doesn’t taste too awesome and smells like death. I, however, find myself enjoying it from time to time, in very small amounts, of course. In this recipe though, I have left out the Kibe and you can put more or less of any of the ingredients in to suit your fancy.

Here goes…..

Special Fata

You’ll need

A sauce pan

Something to stir with

A knife

A heat source on which to cook

Ingredients (mind, these are approximations)

½ to ¼ loaf French or Sourdough bread - (preferably a day or two old as you’re going to be adding moisture to this and fresh bread would get soggy rather quickly)

Plain Yogurt – as much or as little as you want

1 or 2 heaping Tablespoons of Berbere – Ethiopian spice mixture. If you can’t find it in your town, look up a recipe and have a shot at making it yourself………or order online.

2 large Red onions

Garlic (you choose how much)

Oil – just enough to coat the bottom of your pan plus a tiny bit more

1 Avocado

1 Egg

1 Tomato

1 hot pepper of your choice

¼ Cup tomato sauce of your choice

Salt to taste

Water (if necessary)

Down to business

1.            Dice the tomatoes, avocado and hot pepper and set them aside.

2.            Cut the bread into bite sized pieces and set aside.

3.            Finely chop the onion and garlic. Set a little of the onions aside to top the fata if desired. Put the rest of it in the sauce pan with the pre-heated oil, add the Berbere and garlic, and cook the onions until they’re translucent and start to break down. The finer you chop the onions the less time this will take.

This mixture will be mixed in with the bread, essentially making a sort of stuffing/dressing, so if it doesn’t look like this mixture has enough liquid to sufficiently cover the bread, add just the smallest bit of water until it looks like it’ll work. Be careful, if you add too much water your bread will get soggy. Ick!

4.            Mix the onion mixture in with the bread until all the bread has been blessed by its saucy deliciousness. You have now made what is called “Dabo Firfir” which translates to “Bread Scramble”. Set it aside.

5.            Scramble the egg, adding salt if you feel inclined.

6.            Dish out the Dabo Firfir into whatever you’re going to eat it out of. Traditionally, Fata is served in one big bowl with two spoons so you can share, but you can eat it however the heck you want.

Top it with the yogurt, then the uncooked onion, hot pepper, egg, tomato, tomato sauce, and avocado. Add a little salt if you think it needs it. Traditionally this whole thing is mixed up to form a weird lookin’ mush, but you do as you please.  Congratulations, you’ve just made Special Fata.

What makes it special, you ask? Well, if anything is topped with an egg here, it’s considered “special”. So, Fata with an egg is Special Fata. Pasta

EAT AND ENJOY!!!!

Side notes: You’ll notice in the photo that it looks like there is a lot more yogurt than one cup. It’s true, but my fellow ferenjoch often complain that it’s more like yogurt soup than Dabo Firfir with yogurt, so I toned it down a little for texture sensitive people. Feel free to add more yogurt if you wish, or less for that matter. You may also have noticed that there is pasta on top as well. If you happen to have just that much left-over pasta, well then, throw it on there, but I don’t think most people can be bothered to cook just that much pasta only to put it on top of something else. Do as you please.

Let me know what you think.

Amharic Language Lesson

Yogurt = Irgo (Ear + go)

Bread = Dabo

Egg = Enkulal

Scramble = Firfir

Tomato = Timatim

Hot pepper = Kariya (Car + ee + uh)

Avocado = Avocado

Salt = Chow (emphasis on the Ch)

Water = Wuha

Spoon = Mankiya (Mong + key + uh)