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Summary: The ultimate guide to Ethiopian cooking
Review: Ethiopian food is of the best and most complicated cuisines in the world. This book is a great introduction and guide. I am writing this review because I read a review that said that this book did not have enough detail. The recipes for Injera (the Ethiopian staple bread) are the only ones that I have ever tried that actually work. If you have any doubt about what the finished product should look like, just check out the many great color photos in the book! If every country in the world had a Daniel Mesfin writing books about its cooking and culture, the world of cookbooks would be much more fascinating than it is. If you have never tried Ethiopian food, find a restaurant in your state. Then buy this book and start cooking for yourself. The book contains contact information for businesses that sell Ethiopian ingredients. This is an awesome book.
Rating: 
Summary: More than Just a Cookbook
Review: I have used this book extensively over the past five years, preparing several of the recipes from its contents. I find this cookbook to be among the best I possess with only two cautionary details:1. A few recipes reference the use of rue in their ingredient lists. Rue, as cited on page 244 in "Exotic Ethiopian Cooking" is an herb given the botanical name Ruta graveolens, a toxic plant. Though its use in food preparation and homeopathic medicines is widely known; symptoms from poisoning may include dermatitis, gastro-enteritis, vomiting, convulsion and even death. Use reasonable judgment; educate yourselves on the use this herb and its toxicity before making a decision to include rue in preparation of these recipes. 2. Instructed measurements in a very few of the recipes seem to be quite disproportionate; exercise your own personal taste and judgment in preparation. "Exotic Ethiopian Cooking" is more than just a cookbook; it is descriptive of culture and traditional food preparation which helps to bring to the reader a greater experience than simply satisfying his or her culinary desires. I also appreciate that this book has a great deal of nutritional information for ingredients such as t'ef and qoch'o for which one would not usually find a Nutrition Facts label.
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Summary: The ultimate guide to Ethiopian cooking
Review: Over all, this is a good cookbook for an experienced general cook or someone who already knows a lot about Ethiopian cooking. Some of the recipes are very good (e.g., Yemiser Kik W'et and Doro W'et are both good) but the instructions are generally poor. Unless you already know what a dish should taste like or look like, you will be left mystified by instructions like those for Injera (made from T'ef), which tell you to "cover and let stand still till the mixture rises." Given that the consistency you're looking for with an injera batter is close to a crepe or pancake batter, knowing how long it takes to rise is totally necessary unless you know what a risen pancake batter should look like. Even an experienced bread baker might need a little more instruction here. There is also insufficient explanation for why you must do some of the things you do (e.g., boiling 1 cup of the Injera mixture and then cooling it and putting it back into the original pot, to which you then add more water). It would be nice to know why some of the steps must be taken, since some of the recipes seem to be written for a chef who is beginning at the very beginning (like with whole t'ef grain, rather than with te'f flour, for example). All in all, I think this might be the best ethiopian cookbook available, and is well worth it for those, like me, who want to explore this fantastic cuisine and don't have access to a knowledgeable friend or co-worker.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for some recipes, but lousy instructions
Review: Over all, this is a good cookbook for an experienced general cook or someone who already knows a lot about Ethiopian cooking. Some of the recipes are very good (e.g., Yemiser Kik W'et and Doro W'et are both good) but the instructions are generally poor. Unless you already know what a dish should taste like or look like, you will be left mystified by instructions like those for Injera (made from T'ef), which tell you to "cover and let stand still till the mixture rises." Given that the consistency you're looking for with an injera batter is close to a crepe or pancake batter, knowing how long it takes to rise is totally necessary unless you know what a risen pancake batter should look like. Even an experienced bread baker might need a little more instruction here. There is also insufficient explanation for why you must do some of the things you do (e.g., boiling 1 cup of the Injera mixture and then cooling it and putting it back into the original pot, to which you then add more water). It would be nice to know why some of the steps must be taken, since some of the recipes seem to be written for a chef who is beginning at the very beginning (like with whole t'ef grain, rather than with te'f flour, for example). All in all, I think this might be the best ethiopian cookbook available, and is well worth it for those, like me, who want to explore this fantastic cuisine and don't have access to a knowledgeable friend or co-worker.
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