Teff Hot Cereal

Lately, I've been really excited about cooking with the Ethiopian grain Teff.  Maybe it's all the kind of amazing looking recipes using Teff that have been popping up lately or maybe it's the prospect of making injera (the spongy flat bread served with Ethiopian food) at home.  I picked up a bag of Teff at my local grocery store and started dreaming about everything I was going to create with it.

So, imagine how sad I was when I realized instead of purchasing the Teff flour necessary for these recipes, I bought the whole grain Teff.  A grain so small that, according to the Bob's Red Mill website, it is nearly impossible to grind in the home kitchen.  Not that I usually grind my own flours or anything.  I also don't usually take ingredient photographs, but here's a shot of Teff (the grain):

Instead of injera or the chocolate banana Teff cupcakes of my dreams,  I ended up making the Hot Cereal recipe on the back of the package.  Exciting, but not nearly as tasty.

I ate mine with bananas, pecans and some sweetened milk.  The flavor was decent, though I have to say it seems like the kind of thing that, at least in cereal form, you would eat more for health purposes than sheer deliciousness.  And while I can't attest to the specific nutritional content (Bob's Mill does describe it as a "nutritional powerhouse"), I did feel like it gave me extra energy and focus powers while working on my thesis today.  In short, this isn't the kind of breakfast you would serve when wanted to dazzle yourself or someone else, rather the type of thing you prepare before participating in some sort of sporting event or perhaps a marathon thesis writing session.

Teff Hot Cereal
From Bob's Red Mill

Ingredients

• 2 cups slightly salted water
• 1/2 cup Teff 
• Any other nuts, fruit/ dried fruit, milk or sweetener (honey would be really delightful) you'd like to serve with your Teff.

Boil water and then stir in the Teff.  Cover and cook, over medium heat, until the Teff has absorbed all the water.  Make sure to check on it throughout the process -- stirring as necessary and making sure the Teff doesn't burn on the bottom.   This should take about 15-20 minutes.  Serve the hot Teff in a bowl and garnish as you please.