Hareg is Ethiopian food at its best

In Amharic, Ethiopia’s most widely spoken language, the word Hareg has a broad range of definitions from vines and plant shoots to line of a poem or pattern of a rug to lineage. I find that kind of elasticity in languages fascinating.

For owner Wondwossen Assalahun of this veggie-centric restaurant, I expect that the meanings of both “plant shoots” and “lineage" resonate.

You wouldn’t know it after all these years but I am a fan of Ethiopian cuisine and when I lived in Toronto, it was fairly common for me to indulge. So now I’m finally embarking on my exploration of this cuisine in Ottawa and Hareg had me off to a terrific start.

What most people understand about Ethiopian food is that the eating is done with your hands. A large, moist, spongy, gluten-free flatbread known as injera is topped with all manner of stewed veggies or meats. You, with friends and family, tear at this bread and use the pieces to scoop up your topping of choice. 

As you might guess from the name “sambussa” it is better known to us in the Indian iteration of samosa. I ordered both the lentil and beef versions and was told they were “just a little spicy”. 

I appreciated that the wrappers were thin with structural integrity and a little chewy. So much more appealing than the thick pastry of their Indian counterparts. They were also packed to bursting.

The beef was minced and heavily perfumed with cardamom and other spices and after a few bites the heat had aggregated and I needed a break with a sip of beer. With those beer intermissions I realized this would make a great bar snack.

As delicious (and if you can take a little heat, order these) as the beef was, I particularly enjoyed the lentil sambussa. It was a little larger and equally stuffed but with a little less emphasis on the chili. When this is what vegan eating can be, I’m a fan.

When dining in a larger group, platters come served with a large round of injera bread topped with all sorts of stewed combinations. At Hareg, individual platters come with cut up, rolled pieces of injera for ease of use.

Injera is a naturally soured fermented bread made using teff flour. Teff is an ancient grain that is one of the few plants considered a complete protein as it contains all amino acids required for human health.

I first came across teff while living in Vancouver and used it as a staple in my cooked morning cereal. A great way to add even more fibre and protein. Just a word of caution: if you are planning on rinsing teff, it’s so tiny a grain that it will pass through most sieves. Go to a restaurant supply shop for a fine-weave sieve.

The accompanying toppings are plentiful and you can go entirely vegan at Hareg but I opted for a platter involving lamb, everything else was plant-based.

It consisted of three types of lentils (yellow, brown and green) each with different seasonings, lamb, carrots and potatoes, beets, cabbage and a dip made from chickpea flour. All were very appetizing and even now I’m having a hard time thinking of which I preferred. It was delicious across the board.

There are many compelling reasons as to why eating with your hands is preferable to utensils as this piece articulates. 

For our purposes, when getting together with friends, we share in the experience of eating and conversation and watching each other's expressions when eating from the same platter. 

I have long had a belief that when we sit at a table, we share more than food. We don’t just share French, Italian, Indigenous, German or Ethiopian stories, we share human stories. Food is the blessing that binds us. It is what sustains us, and buried within Ethiopian tradition, is a lesson for us all.

Come to the table and share. Melkam megeb.