Exploring Ethiopian Spices

One of the cool things about moving is discovering the new ingredients that are locally available. So far, we've discovered a variety of Caribbean and Latin American groceries and an amazing Asian grocery (the infamous H-Mart, which would be perfect if it actually carried fermented black beans).

Image by VirtualErnThe other day, I found Sheger International Market, a tiny Ethiopian place a few blocks away. I picked up some injera - a spongy pancake-like sourdough flatbread made from teff flour - while I was there, because it was something I thought Angela would like. (She did.) What caught my attention, though, were the shelves of small plastic containers filled with a variety of spices and things. Few of them I recognized. There was plenty of berbere and some green coffee beans, but other than that... well... it looks like I have a lot of research and experimentation to do. I suspect several of these things are spices that I know of under another name, so if anyone has a good resource for Ethiopian spice names, please share.