Today’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms will be presented in Amharic, with subtitles in Amharic, Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Greetings, kind viewers, and welcome to another episode of A Journey through Aesthetic Realms. On today’s program we’ll explore the Ethiopian injera and coffee culture, and discover the birthplace of coffee or “bunna,” as it is called in Amharic. The beautiful country of Ethiopia, located in northeast Africa, has many wonderful customs associated with delectable food and beverages.

Inspired by the Orthodox Church tradition, Ethiopian cuisine is famous for its delicious vegan dishes. While diverse cultures exist in the nation, typical Ethiopian meals feature a sourdough flatbread or injera, various spicy vegetable dishes called “wats,” as well as an after-meal espresso-style coffee. Let’s first take a look at how injera is prepared.

Now I am going to show how to make teff injera. Teff is native to Ethiopia. Teff has three varieties; we call them white, mixed, and red teff.

Teff contains iron and also other nutrients. The most widely used food in Ethiopia is teff. Teff can be eaten with anything. Teff’s straw is called “chid.” And the straw is used for making traditional mud houses by mixing with mud. The grain looks like this. This is white teff grain. It is sifted, cleaned and ground. After grinding, the flour looks like this. This is white teff. I put the white teff flour in here and knead it. We knead it, and we add yeast to it. We can make one to two injeras from this. We ferment it. This is the fermented teff. It has been three days since we made this dough. We add “absit.” Absit is made by adding teff flour to boiling water, then we put it to the fermented dough after it cools down. Then we wait for about an hour.

Making injera requires very simple yet special equipment.

This is called “gulcha.” We put the griddle on 3 gulchas used to support the griddle. And this is “mitad.” It is called “ye’injera mitad.” And it is used to make injera and many other things too. We can also use it to bake bread. This is called “akenbalo;” it is made from black soil, ash and mud. And this one is made from clay soil. This is clay soil.

To make the best injera, it is very important to heat the griddle evenly and thoroughly.

We sprinkle something to ignite the firewood, to burn the firewood fast. Then we sprinkle Ethiopian cabbage seed powder. It will tell us when the griddle glows. It is called “gomen zer.” It makes the griddle more beautiful. It takes 30 minutes. When it glows, we clean the powder and put the dough on it. Now we need to add some firewood on all sides to burn the fire well for the griddle to glow well. We need some straw to burn the fire well. We use this to set the fire. It will have smoke while burning.

Once the griddle is thoroughly heated, it’s ready to make injera.

This is a cleaning cloth. I am cleaning, like this, to give the griddle a beautiful sheen and so that the injera will not stick to it. Now we bake the injera.

This is called circling. Circling injera. Now it is hot enough. We cover the lid after it forms some kind of holes.

So, it takes some 3 minutes to bake. It needs to be baked well.

And this “sefed” is to take out injera. This is where we put the injera. Now we take out the injera.

We detach the edges like this to avoid tearing off. Then we put the sefed under. Yes. I put it here. This is “mesob” for injera.

Injera is often torn into small strips and served with “wats” or vegetable dishes. After a satisfying meal with scrumptious injera, it’s time for coffee. The story of coffee begins in Ethiopia, the original home of the coffee plant, Coffea arabica, which still grows wild in the country’s forested highlands. It is believed that coffee cultivation and use began as early as the 9th century.

And from this long history of coffee cultivation arose the tradition of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, an integral part of the nation’s social and cultural life. An invitation to attend a coffee ceremony is considered a mark of friendship or respect and is an excellent example of Ethiopian hospitality. So why not sit back with a cup of coffee and enjoy the show?

Coffee was found for the first time in Ethiopia, from a region called Kaffa. The word “coffee” is derived from the word “Kaffa.”

The traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony includes the processes of roasting, grinding, brewing, and serving coffee. Special equipment is used for each of these steps.

This is “jebena” for boiling coffee. This is where we put the jebena. This is called “rekebot.” This is “sini” for drinking coffee. This is where we put the incense. To put these inside. Then, this is where we burn the incense. This is called “biret mitad” (iron griddle). This is a roasting metal. This is a roasting furnace. These are the coffee beans to roast. This is “mukecha” (mortar), for grinding the coffee beans. This is “zenezena” (metal stick). This is green grass. We spread it on the ground during holidays to symbolize good wishes and lushness. This is how we dress during the coffee ceremony in holidays to prepare coffee for our guests.

The coffee ceremony begins with roasting the green coffee beans over a hot stove.

My coffee beans look ready, I will take them out when their color changes to black. Now the coffee is ready. We are going to take it out. We make it like this because it has aroma. It is to spread the aroma to people. Like that. Now with this mortar we grind it after it cools down. Here are our coffee beans. This is our coffee mortar. We grind it with this zenezena. When the powder is fine after this, we put it in the jebena. Now the powder is fine.

The pot for cooking coffee is called jebena, a simple wheel-turned pottery vessel with a neck and a handle.

The water is boiling. We pour it into the jebena. We rinse the jebena. Now since the powder is fine, we put it here. Now, after adding the powder, we add hot water. Now, we should check the strength of the coffee. Too much powder, so we add a little water. So, we put it on the charcoal. This is the jebena lid. A lid for this. You can eat “yebuna qurs” until it boils. Come take. We burn our incense well. These are tongs to pick up embers. Tongs are used to adjust this.

This is to pick this up. When the smoke flares, our coffee ceremony will be nice. We will check like this so as to avoid boiling over. We do this to facilitate the charcoal burning. When the coffee boils, it produces vapor. Now the coffee is boiling. Here it is. We put it like this for sedimentation. We serve the coffee when it sediments. Now it is ready. After pouring like this, we add sugar, or nothing, according to people’s needs. This is an Ethiopian cup, sini. We drink coffee with these bigger cups.

Coffee grounds are brewed three times during the ceremony. At the same time, incense is burned.

This, the first one, is called “abol.” The second “tona.” The third “bereka.”

Now, this water is for the second and third. Yes, now the second or tona is put on the furnace. We can chat and eat yebuna qurs while waiting for it to boil. First, we rinse the cups, and make them ready for the second round. Ethiopian coffee ceremony is like this; it is very incredible. Now the second or tona is ready. We put it here for a while to sediment. We put this here for the next, to boil for the third round or for the bereka. This is it! Now the third or what we call bereka is ready. This is it; we have finished now.

Delighting in the aroma and richness of freshly ground and lovingly brewed Ethiopian coffee, one is sure to feel relaxed. Today, we presented the injera making and coffee ceremony of Ethiopia. Our many thanks, Ms. Tsehay Mulugeta, for demonstrating your gracious tradition. May these time-honored customs continue to be joyfully practiced by the gentle Ethiopian people for eons to come.

Caring viewers, thank you for sharing a fantastic time with us today on A Journey through Aesthetic Realms.

Up next on Supreme Master Television is Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living, after Noteworthy News. May your journey on Earth be illuminated with Divine wisdom and compassion.