Three cheers for
Wanderingjew and
Paulde for putting together such a great line-up of Rhode Island classics and exotic cuisine for all of us last night! We began at Dale's local haunt,
The Crow's Nest in Warwick, for stuffies and these tawny clam cakes:
Karilyn &
Heather began the evening with lobster rolls and clam chowder:
Then we all drove into Providence for Ethiopian fare at
Abyssinia. We began this culinary tour with
Kategna, deep-fried injera chips topped with mitmita spice and served with a garlic and cilantro-herbed Greek yogurt dip (descriptions from their menu):
Everyone completely devoured these
Lamb Sambussas, with fresh ground lamb spiced with onions, garlic, ginger and fresh mint, hand-wrapped in two thin pastry shells and fried to a golden brown:
A close second place were these
Sikwar Dinich Tibs, an adaptation of Ojojo, a popular East African snack. Two deep fried yam cakes with tomato, onion, and cilantro:
For entrees we tried the
Doro Wot, traditionally cut, bone-in chicken marinated in lemon, stewed in a berbere sauce, flavored with
onions and garlic, spiced with metin kemun, an Ethiopian blend of spices, and finished with savory qibe butter. Garnished with a hard-boiled egg and ayib, Ethiopian cottage cheese. Considered the ‘signature dish’ of Ethiopian cuisine:
And the meat combo platter, which included a beef dish and samplings of the veggie dishes (lentils, chickpeas, collards, cabbage, beets, et al.):
Resembling the rolled-up finger towels we were given later (!),
injera bread was served with all of this, a spongy sourdough pancake of sorts that you tear off and pick up the food with instead of forks. Its texture is very close to Maine ployes:
As a review framed on their wall stated,
Abyssinia is helping Providence to shake its "only Italian food" reputation:
Next: dessert before dinner #2!
