Ethiopian Cookbook (Planet Cookbooks)

Excellent!

Paradoxically, this cookbook earns both zero stars and five stars. Zero because none of the recipes taste Ethiopian. Five because the food is easy to prepare and tastes great.

This cookbook is a good start to those that are looking to add Ethiopian cooking to their culinary toolbox. Very easy directions to follow, and a good selection of Wat (stews) to choose from. I love that they included recipes for Berbere and Niter Kibbeh. I would give it a fifth star if it had more recipes, but as I said, a good foundational book.

Some time ago, I lent out my copy of the venerable "Exotic Ethiopian" cookbook, with its numerous recipes and extensive cultural background, and never got it back. It's available via Amazon but it'll cost you until it's reprinted. This new book makes me miss it all the more. "Ethiopian Cookbook - A Beginner's Guide" isn't quite what the title suggests since there's not much 'guiding' offered. Its meagre 28 pages (of large type), and half of them full-page photos, means that the reader and cook will get only a cross section of dishes and, as other reviewers have noted, the recipes are "adapted" to non-Ethiopian kitchens. A lot gets lost in the translation. Most notable, of course, is the shortcut recipe for ingera which uses whole wheat or buckwheat instead of teff, which is readily available now in many stores. The result is pancakes and blini's, not our beloved, sweet-sour fermented ingera. Admittedly, the real thing is very hard to make, but it's better to get it sent from the distributers who air-freight packages of them than to miss out on the authentic taste. I would recommend this new book only for a cook who's interested in a general introduction to this cuisine, but for the serious devotee of this addictive tradition: save up for the rare green masterpiece  Exotic Ethiopian Cooking : Sociey, Culture, Hospitality, and Traditions. Revised Extended Edition. 178 Tested Recipes. With Food Composition Tables.  or wait until a more comprehensive book comes out.

gift

I was excited to see this collection of Ethiopian food. However, I noticed that one recipe called for wheat flour with no mention of teff flour, and no mention of how to ferment the injera as well.I bought this book because I love Ethiopian food and want to make it at home. It's disconcerting to have even a couple of recipes with substitutions of ingredients because now I'm unsure just how authentic these recipes are. It make me feel like I'm trying to Chinese food from recipes from Panda Express.Having said that, this cookbook is closer to getting the Ethiopian flavors than not and I have made several things. It lacks the finesse of a cookbook written by a skilled chef with good cooking technique, but short of adopting myself to an Ethiopian grandmother it's certainly better than nothing.

Recipes are easy and delicious. Spices needed can be bought on line. Bread can also be ordered online and frozen for future use.

Great book with some excellent recipes though the ingredients may be hard to find - wait, what am I talking about - we've got the internet now baby

Brilliant. I watched a programe about a travelling chef and loved the look of the ethiopian food he cooked. This cookbook has similar recipes and more. Ethiopian food is diverse and very tasty. Even my fussy youngest son will eat it. The book isn't huge and is paperback but is beautifully presented and a donation is made to charity for each copy sold.

The book is more of a pamphlet than a book - it has 28 pages and recipes, very simple and minimum cooking instructions. Small thin paperback - at £3-£4 maybe worth it but being sold at £16 which is insane.

I fell in love with Ethiopian cuisine after experiencing it in a restaurant. I've found it very difficult to find a cookbook until now.An excellent book in which you can discover the history and culture of the country not just the food.Proceeds from the book will go towards helping suffering African communities.The recipes are great and easy to follow and the book is well presented with great photography.A must buy!

Lovely recipes. Simple to use. expensive though. I bought it as a present for a friend and was a bit disappointed with the size when it came . But lovely recipes and seem fairly authentic.

The book is well produced and describes Ethiopian cuisine well. The range of food described gives sufficient range to choose from. The only downside is that the measures are exclusively in the American cup format.

Good recipes, but the book is slightly expensive

Good photosEasy to follow recipesA good introduction including the culture as well as the foodA good purchase

This cook book was extremely user friendly in all the descriptions with photos of the dishes that were being made. I have made a few dishes from this cook book and they turned out as I expected and remembered from my trip to Ethiopia. Well done!

Its something different. Its all very simple and very tasty. I would highly recommend giving this a go...

Some good recipes