Great Taste

Somali cuisine: FYI

Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the United States.

Great Taste has visited a few Rochester ethnic markets (more to come on that) to begin research on Somali food.

Meanwhile, here are three enticing sources of information and recipes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_cuisine

http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Somalian_Recipes

http://www.mysomalifood.com/

We ask readers:

Do you have a Somali recipe you'd like to share?

Where do you like to shop for ingredients for Solmali dishes?

Think flat ... bread

There's a flat bread for whatever mood you're in at International Spices & Grocery in Rochester. 

Injera, lahvosh (Armenian cracker bread), pita and hambasha are some of the round, thin Middle Eastern/ African breads that are fun to pick up and experiment with. I like hambasha, a sweet bread, with cardamom tea; other breads are perfect for dips, sauces, stews or wraps.

Pita can be toasted with olive oil and salt to become a chip. Pita chips, toasted or fried, are a key ingredient in a popular Levantine salad called fattoush. During my recent trip to Marin County, north of San Francisco, I encountered fattoush as a specialty of the house at critically acclaimed Insalata's, a Mediterranean restaurant in San Anselmo. If you'd like to make fattoush, mayoclinic.com features a recipe for it.

Or just enjoy the staff of life all by itself.

International Spices & Grocery, 125 E. Center Street (507) 288-8007.