Photo by Carly Otness
By Raymond Bloom
If you’re looking for a new and fun lunch option for your weekend afternoon, you might enjoy the special Ethiopian menu at Petit Valentien in La Arcada, downtown Santa Barbara. The combination platter (above) features six items from the a la carte menu plus injera, an Ethiopian bread.
Chef Serkaddis Alemu is partner to chef Robert Dixon, who creates the French side of the menu at Petit Valentein. Serkaddis says that family style, using the injera as a utensil, is the traditional way to eat the dish. Made correctly, injera is a pancake-like flatbread with a slightly spongy texture and is a focal point to most Ethiopian cuisine.
A native of Ethiopia, she says the recipes are direct from her family, handed down from one generation to the next, making the experience one of a kind and delicious. This platter consisted of ye’doro wat (spicy chicken), gomen (collard greens), firfir (injera smothered in spicy sauce), ye’assa (fish), ye’misir alicha (whole green lentil), and ye’atakelt alicha (cabbage).
For those who would like to make their own injera, Serkaddis offers a take-home kit complete with mother injera dough, teff flour, and cooking instructions. Or, you can just drop by and enjoy the house-made variety on weekends.—RB
Ethiopian menus are served Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 to 2:30. 1114 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. 805-966-0222.
Injera is a sour fermented pancake-like flatbread with a slightly spongy texture, traditionally made of teff flour. In Ethiopia, Eritrea, and some parts of Sudan and Kenya, injera is a staple. Injera is central to the dining process, like bread or rice elsewhere and is usually stored in the mesob.
