Ethiopian Feast: Ethiopian Green Salad

Last but not least…

This is the last recipe I’m sharing in my Ethiopian Feast series (click the “How To: Ethiopian Feast” photo below fora  link to al of the recipes). It’s definitely the simplest, but I also think the most important. Why? This simple-yet-vibrant green salad adds a much needed freshness to the platter.

Fresh ginger, garlic, jalapeño, and white wine vinegar intermingle with crunchy red bell pepper, crisp green lettuce, and super thinly sliced yellow onion. Eating a bite of this in between bites of the other stew-y dishes is totally sublime! And of course, the injera can be used to scoop and eat this salad as well, though, I’ll admit, I grabbed a fork after a while.

I know it seems kinda silly to have a recipe for something so simple, and not exactly visually exciting, but I promise your Ethiopian Feast needs this salad. Feel free to add or omit ingredients to it as you’d like—tomatoes and cucumbers would be delicious additions! If you don’t have white wine vinegar, I think rice vinegar or even red wine vinegar would also be lovely. I took the seeds out of my jalapeño, but if you want it spicy, by all means, leave them in!

I hope you guys enjoyed this series on Ethiopian cuisine even half as much as I did! It’s something I’ve always wanted to try making myself, and I’m glad I finally did. I’ve been finding that the ethnic dishes I’ve always loved but was too scared to make myself are actually far easier than I ever imagined (like Mattar Paneer).

Any suggestions for a type of cuisine I should try to tackle next?

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Ethiopian Green Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 to 1 and 1/2 tsp finely chopped, peeled, fresh ginger
• 1/2 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 head green leaf lettuce, rinsed, dried, and roughly chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, very thinly sliced

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, ginger, garlic, jalapeño, salt, and pepper.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

recipe adapted from here