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How to eat Ethiopian food + Nile Restaurant in Iowa

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How to eat Ethiopian food + Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Coralville, Iowa. Lots of vegan options! | cadryskitchen.comThis weekend I visited brand new Ethiopian restaurant, Nile in Coralville, Iowa. Plus, for the uninitiated, I share how to eat Ethiopian food.

When David and I were moving back to Iowa after over a decade in Los Angeles, I had more than a few concerns. One of them was not having access to the variety of restaurants to which I’d grown accustomed. Ethiopian is one of my favorite cuisines, and Los Angeles has no shortage of options. (Although, if you have access to Rahel Vegan Cuisine, I can’t imagine why you’d go anywhere else.) We were relieved to discover that there actually was an Ethiopian restaurant in Eastern Iowa… Then it closed within months of our arrival. And it wasn’t that good anyway.

With time, I learned to cook Ethiopian food for myself, making my own infused oil, and buying injera from a woman who had moved to the States from Ethiopia. Armed with berbere purchased en masse whenever I ventured to an Ethiopian grocery store in other cities, making Ethiopian food at home can be delicious and even exciting. (As my friend, Kittee, always recommends, make sure to get real Ethiopian berbere and not a mix somewhere like Penzey’s, which uses cayenne pepper. Berbere should be flavorful and spicy, but not burn-your-mouth-off hot.)

David and I love to have friends over for Ethiopian food. For some of our friends, it was their first time trying it. For others, it’s something they always seek out whenever they’re in big cities, and so getting to indulge closer to home was a coup. We have a couple of large platters especially for when we have friends over for a dinner of Ethiopian food.

So you can imagine how excited I was on Saturday when a friend posted on Facebook about a new Ethiopian restaurant that was having its grand opening in Coralville, Iowa.

Nile Ethiopian Restaurant

How to eat Ethiopian food + Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Coralville, Iowa. Lots of vegan options! | cadryskitchen.comHow to eat Ethiopian food + Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Coralville, Iowa. Lots of vegan options! | cadryskitchen.comNile Ethiopian Restaurant is in a strip mall behind a popular Chinese buffet. The space is bright and open, and there were a few people dining.

The waiter came over with menus, which include a vegetarian section. Ethiopian wots (stews) can be made with either spice-infused butter or oil. Most restaurants seem to use oil, but for vegans, it’s always best to ask.

The waiter wasn’t sure which they used, and so he went in the back to ask the chef. You can only imagine how David and I held our breath until he returned. It would have been so sad to finally have access to a good Ethiopian restaurant, only to have to leave because the wots were cooked in dairy-based butter. When the waiter returned, he told us that all of the vegetarian options are cooked in oil. Score!

How to eat Ethiopian food + Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Coralville, Iowa. Lots of vegan options! | cadryskitchen.comWe settled on a vegetarian sampler, which came with our choice of 5 wots. There are 6 vegetarian wots listed on the menu, and so it basically meant asking for a platter without one of the options. Sorry, shiro. (Pro tip: If you ask, they will let you have all of the vegetarian items for about a dollar more.)

David also opted for some Ethiopian coffee, which was strong without being overly acidic.

How to Eat Ethiopian Food

How to eat Ethiopian food + Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Coralville, Iowa. Lots of vegan options! | cadryskitchen.comHow to eat Ethiopian food + Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Coralville, Iowa. Lots of vegan options! | cadryskitchen.comOn all of the tables were sheets explaining how to eat Ethiopian food. Since Ethiopian food is a rarity in Iowa, this is a nice touch for people who might be confused as to why there’s no silverware on the table. Ethiopian food is eaten on a shared platter – by hand.

The platter is covered in a layer of sponge-y bread called injera. The sour bread is like a combination of sourdough and a pancake. Injera is made with teff flour, which is protein-dense and gluten-free. (However, many restaurants use a mix of flours, and so it’s good to ask if the injera is gluten-free or not if you are sensitive to gluten. Currently, the injera at Nile Ethiopian Restaurant is not gluten-free.)

On the side, there is more injera, which is used for scooping the stews. Since you’ll be eating by hand, it’s important to wash your hands before dining. At some restaurants like Rahel, the server will also come around with a water pitcher and basin to wash everyone’s hands at the table. However, they don’t do that at Nile.

Using your right hand, tear off a piece of injera. It will be a pocket for your food. Scoop up a bite-sized amount of the stew with the injera, and put it in your mouth, being careful not to touch your mouth with your fingers. Then tear off another piece of injera, and continue. For obvious reasons, it’s impolite to lick your fingers while dining.

Vegetarian Platter

How to eat Ethiopian food + Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Coralville, Iowa. Lots of vegan options! | cadryskitchen.comHere are the stews we sampled. Red lentils in a berbere sauce, cabbage and potatoes, green beans and carrots, collard greens, and a fresh green salad in an Italian-style vinaigrette. My favorite wot of the bunch was the yellow split pea stew – mild and mushy in texture.

If you are a person who is afraid of spicy food, there’s nothing to fear here. Although the food has a lot of flavor, it isn’t hot at all. The green beans and carrots had a bit of sweetness to them, which was an unexpected surprise. All of the food had a layered, warming flavor, and wasn’t oily as can be an issue at some Ethiopian restaurants. This was the perfect amount of food for two hungry adults.

This is an excellent new addition to the Iowa restaurant landscape. If you’re elsewhere in the state, there is also an Ethiopian restaurant in Fairfield. For Florida, Minnesota, and New York Ethiopian lovers, check out these reviews from Nile Ethiopian in Orlando, Bunna in Brooklyn, and Fasika in Minneapolis. To make Ethiopian food at home, I can’t recommend the cookbook, Teff Love, highly enough.

For more vegan options in Iowa, check out my Iowa travel page.

Disclaimer: Post contains Amazon affiliate link.

How to eat Ethiopian food + Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Coralville, Iowa. Lots of vegan options! | cadryskitchen.com

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Posted On: April 17, 2017
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Comments

  1. Bianca Phillips says

    April 17, 2017 at 4:15 pm

    Ethiopian food is my VERY fave! I have to eat it at least once a month. :-) BUT, I can't not lick my fingers or touch my mouth so I prefer to have a vegetable platter all to myself and just take home any leftovers. Haha.
    Reply
    • Cadry says

      April 18, 2017 at 9:14 am

      Haha! It's good to know your limits. :D
      Reply
  2. Kris says

    April 17, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    Thanks for making me hungry but at least this gem is within driving distance. Love Ethiopian!
    Reply
    • Cadry says

      April 18, 2017 at 9:14 am

      Yes, finally there is good Ethiopian food within reach!
      Reply
  3. Susan says

    April 18, 2017 at 12:58 am

    That looks so good! Though how sad you had to leave one of the options off... they should have an extra big vegetarian platter with everything! I had Ethiopian food that I bought for the first time a few weeks ago from a market stall (I have made injera once before with some sort of success, but certainly it wasn't the proper stuff). I really liked it! Though I had to use a fork because tragically there was not quite enough injera to scoop up the different toppings.
    Reply
    • Cadry says

      April 18, 2017 at 9:16 am

      Yeah, I was surprised that the largest vegetarian sampler didn't include all of the vegetarian options. Usually it does in restaurants. It was the first day they were open. Maybe it was a misprint on the menu? I've made injera a few times too, but they've always been cheater recipes. I don't have the stamina/patience to do one of the full blown recipes. I'd much rather just pay for it!
      Reply
  4. Shell says

    April 18, 2017 at 8:02 am

    Great news that an Ethiopian option has come to the area! I love the How to Eat Ethiopian food instructions. I've never had authentic Ethiopian food before and I think I'm properly prepared now when the opportunity presents itself! :)
    Reply
    • Cadry says

      April 18, 2017 at 9:17 am

      Excellent! I'm glad you liked the little tutorial. Now you're ready! Bring on the wots. :D
      Reply
  5. Becky Striepe says

    April 18, 2017 at 9:34 am

    Ethiopian food is one of my favorite cuisines! There are a lot of good places here in Atlanta, but since Dave and Darrol aren't fans, it's a rare treat when I get to go.
    Reply
    • Cadry says

      April 20, 2017 at 10:37 am

      Ah, that's too bad that they aren't into it. I'm glad that my David is equally obsessed with it as I am.
      Reply
  6. Hannah says

    April 18, 2017 at 12:32 pm

    Oooh, I haven't had Ethiopian food in years!!! This makes me want some immediately.
    Reply
    • Cadry says

      April 20, 2017 at 10:38 am

      Oh, yes, you should get on that ASAP!
      Reply
  7. Andrea says

    April 18, 2017 at 5:56 pm

    I love Ethiopian food so much, and I love making it at home. The last friends who came for an Ethiopian dinner, had never had it before, and although I showed them how to eat it, one of them insisted on using a knife and fork! Your platter looks fantastic!
    Reply
    • Cadry says

      April 20, 2017 at 10:39 am

      Yeah, eating by hand from the same platter can be too much for some people. Whenever people come over, I always give them the option first of having their own plate and portion with silverware before putting everything on to a platter. So far no one has taken me up on that.
      Reply
      • Andrea says

        April 20, 2017 at 3:11 pm

        I gave everyone their own plate! I once had a grotesque experience eating Ethiopian food with a friend. She kept using the same piece of injera over and over until I finally lost my appetite. I have my limits.
        Reply
        • Cadry says

          April 25, 2017 at 7:16 am

          Ew, egads!
          Reply
  8. Katrina says

    April 20, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    Oh lordy. That looks SO good Cadry. My mouth is watering...
    Reply
    • Cadry says

      April 25, 2017 at 7:18 am

      It was delicious! David and I went TWICE during the first week they were open. So nice to have Ethiopian options in Iowa!
      Reply
  9. Erin says

    June 9, 2017 at 2:40 pm

    I read this just before lunch and started drooling, so I Googled "Ethiopian restaurant" in my hometown (Ottawa, Canada) and found one just blocks away from my office - ahh! I had a delicious vegan platter with 5 wots - many the same or similar to the ones you describe in your post. It was amazing. Thanks for the lunchtime inspiration!
    Reply
    • Cadry says

      June 11, 2017 at 5:07 pm

      Yay! I'm so glad to hear it, Erin. Ethiopian food is the best!
      Reply

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