Because of my love for all these places, I do these research binges. That's where I select one country, city, or region- or many- and I find out everything there is to know about it. It's not even something I do intentionally. I don't wake up and say, "Hey! Why don't I spend 5 hours reading about some obscure place?" It's more like I come across the name of a country I haven't heard of ever before or I see some something interesting that comes from the country and I feel inspired. So I go to the only place that could ever know everything about anything: Wikipedia. And I read all of the interesting parts of the article. I tend to skip parts I don't care about like sports and economy. Let's be real, that shit's boring.
Yesterday was one of those days. I came across an infographic for the world's most corrupt countries and decided to write down all the ones I'd never read about or had never even heard of. I came up with a pretty long list. Most of the countries were African or Central Asian- usually underdeveloped and economically and/or politically unstable. That's probably why I'd never read about them before. Because I could never consider living in these countries. They're not suitable for my lifestyle. After reading about a few countries like Cote d'Ivoire, Kyrgyzstan, and Comoros, I came across Eritrea.
Eritrea is a country on the Horn of Africa. It's politically unstable. There is only one party, and all other parties are forbidden. There are only a few religions which Eritreans can legally practice- about half of the people are Muslim and half are Christian. There is no free speech, and the government runs the only media providers. But Eritrea is also diversely beautiful, with clear seawater, barren desserts, and foggy mountains. It made me sad to see that such beauty could be wasted by a government so rigid and controlling.
Through my research I came upon a dish most interesting. Upon first glance, I was intrigued, and upon reading about it, I knew I had to have it. ASAP. I'm talking about Kitcha Fit-Fit. It's shredded Kitcha- a very very very simple and traditional flat bread- soaked in a mixture oil, garlic, and berbere- a traditional spice mix. Some people put it on a platter with yogurt in the middle, but I do not like nor do I have yogurt. So I just put in in a bowl and ate it straight-up. And my God, it's delicious.
Kitcha:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
Mix it all up. I did this with my hands. If it's dry, which mine certainly was, wet your hands and knead a little bit more. You can do this as many times as you need to in order to get it right. You'll know when it's ready. It will be a very firm doughy consistency- like sugar cookie dough. If it's like traditional yeast bread dough, then you've done something wrong. Not my fault. Add more flour. It's very forgiving.
Divide the dough into three little chunks and shape into disks- maybe 4 inches in diameter. They should be pretty thin, like less than a centimeter, but NOT like a tortilla. If they're as thin as tortillas, they're going to suck. Fatten those babies up.
Heat a lightly oiled pan (I sprayed mine with Pam every time I added a new bread to the pan) over medium heat. Any higher and you risk the chance of burning your beautiful Kitcha. That would be unfortunate. Cook the bread on both sides, turning once it browns a little on the bottom. Again, you'll know when it's ready. This takes a few minutes, but not more than 5 on each side.
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The next thing you need to make, and you can do this while the kitcha is cooking or while it is cooling, is the berbere spice mix. This is all to taste. Or just what you have. I didn't have all the ingredients, so I omitted just a couple. Nbd.
Berbere:
1/4 tsp ground fenugreek (I omitted this because I don't like it)
1/4 cup chili powder
1/8 cup paprika
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground cardamom (I did not have this, so I left it out)
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp garlic powder
A few pinches of ground cloves
A few pinches of cinnamon
A few pinches of allspice
Mix it baby, mix it! That's really all. I put mine through a sifter to break up any clumps, but you may not need to if yours it already nice and uniform.
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Now for the fun part. This is where we get to the fit-fit.
Kitcha Fit-Fit
Kitcha (from above)
1 tsp berbere (from above)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon if you'd like (I have no lemons, so I excluded this)
The first thing you have to do is shred the kitcha. Shred that kitcha! You are Shredder, and that kitcha is your bitch, and your bitch just stole your money and ran off to Mexico with a pizza delivery man named Pablo. Shred it!
Mix the olive oil, the berbere, the garlic, and lemon juice if you feel like including it. Now drop the kitcha shreds in there like the beauties they are. Let them fulfill their destiny.
Now let that kitcha soak! I couldn't really wait the full hour that my recipe recommended, so I just got it nice and mixed in before giving in and devouring it. This option is highly recommended. If you actually let it soak for more than 5 minutes, let me know how it tastes. I'm curious.
And there you go. Some delicious kitcha fit-fit. Try not to eat it all if you can bear it- there is a lot of oil all up in there, and word is, lots of oil can make you fat. And we don't want that. Unless it's really good oil. Then it's acceptable.
Now eat it!
