Richard Orange, [email protected]
Monday December 10, 2018
A hearty plate of Anjero Habesha, or Injera Ethiopian-style, at the Marka Cadey Restaurant. Photo: Richard Orange
Malmö might not have an Ethiopian Restaurant, but you can still get a plate of delicious sour, spongy pancakes at Marka Cadey, the city’s only Somali establishment.
Anjero Suqaar is the Somali take on the Ethiopian favourite Injera, and is served with a stew made from small cubes of beef and vegetables.
If you want something closer to the searingly spicy Ethiopian original, you can can order Anjero Habesha (Ethiopian injera), which comes with a red paprika and chilli sauce, a green chilli sauce, spinach, bits of boiled meat, lentil sauce, a chicken leg and a hard-boiled egg.
The restaurant, in Persborg, lies just outside the city centre. It was founded in 2014 by Jawahir Shanle, who started out running a food stall at the Malmö Festival, and then went through a three-year struggle to turn it into a restaurant.
She has since sold the restaurant on to the Somali businessman Rahma Jeele Mohamed, who renamed it after the Somali port of Merca.
The restaurant is a popular gathering place for Somalis in Malmö. Photo: Richard Orange
The decor is simple, with white tables and a canteen counter where the various dishes on offer are kept warm.
When I visit, a group of Somali men is watching Spanish football with a Somali commentator.
"A lot of Somali people come here to eat our traditional food," says manager Abdi Kaamal. "This is Muufo, this is a traditional bread made of maize, and in the Somali community they're very interested to eat it."
Muufo, the staple of Merca's Bimaal clan, is traditionally cooked like a naan bread by sticking it to the side of a clay oven, then eaten chopped into small pieces with butter.
I ordered the Anjero Habesha, which was spicy enough leave my lips tingling, together with Sambosa, a triangular pie stuffed with soft boiled onion and spicy meat.
My children ate Baasto, spaghetti, with a mild tomato sauce. Somalis lack the letter ‘p’ in their language so this is how they transliterated the 'pasta' of the Italians who colonized them.
The restaurant also serves Soor, a thick maize porridge a little like polenta or East African ugali, Sabaayad, like Indian chapati or paratha, and of course rice, either plain or served with raisins and spices.
Other favourites are Surubiyaan, rice cooked with meat like an Indian pilau, and Bajiya, a deep-fried bean patty.