Tag Archives: Ethiopia

Doro Wat

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Doro Wat, which translates to chicken stew, is another typical Ethiopian dish. Just like Sik Sik Wat, it utilizes the spice paste berberé, as well as niter kebbeh.

It’s a very simple dish to prepare, only require sautéing and braising. But it must be made with the spice paste and the infused spice butter to get the really unique flavors of Ethiopian cuisine. I urge you all to try these recipes – especially if you’ve never been lucky enough to enjoy Ethiopian food at a restaurant.

Unfortunately, I’ve tried, but regrettably never conquered the method for making injera – Ethiopian stretchy bread that looks like a large crepe. It’s made with teff flour, and it’s used to pick up the meat and vegetables, and wipe up the juices. So please go to an Ethiopian restaurant for the whole dining experience. You won’t regret it!

The recipe for Doro Wat comes from the Time Life Foods of the World cookbook entitled African cooking. But I’m making the recipe itself simpler, although I’m not changing the ingredients.

Doro Wat

3 pounds boneless chicken thighs, trimmed
1 lemon
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup niter kebbeh
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 – 1″ piece fresh ginger, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup berberé
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup water
6 hard boiled eggs

First, cut up the thighs into about 3 or 4 manageable pieces, and place them in a large bowl. Squeeze lemon juice into the bowl, add the salt, and toss the chicken. Let the chicken marinate for 30 minutes.

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Meanwhile, add the niter kebbeh to a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and cook them for about 5 minutes. Then add the garlic and ginger and sauté for another few minutes.

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Add the fenugreek, cardamom, nutmeg and berberé to the pot and cook the onion mixture for a few minutes, or until the berbere becomes completely combined with the other ingredients.

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Then add the white wine and water and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken pieces to the sauce, cover the pot, and cook for 15 minutes over low heat.

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Pierce the hard boiled eggs with the tines of a fork, and place them in the pot with the chicken. Cover the pot again and cook for another 15 minutes.

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Serve the chicken hot with plenty of sauce, and make sure each serving includes a hard boiled egg. Any kind of bread would be good with doro wat, and comes in handy with the spicy sauce.

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After you’re done using the berberé, remember to put more oil over the top!

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Sik Sik Wat

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In Ethiopia, the word wat is basically the word for stew. But this is no ordinary stew. The Ethiopian wats, no matter what meat is used, whether cooked or raw, are spicy, saucy stews of vibrant color and endless flavors.

This stew is a classic example of a wat. I hope you get a chance to make it!

Sik Sik Wat
Beef Stewed in Red Pepper Sauce

To serve 6 to 8

2 cups finely chopped onions
1/3 cup niter kebbeh
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger root
1/4 ground fenugreek
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup paprika
2 tablespoons berberé
2/3 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup water
1 large tomato, coarsely chopped and pureed through a food mill (I used a teaspoon of tubal tomato paste)
2 teaspoons salt
3 pounds lean boneless beef, preferably chuck, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
Freshly ground black pepper

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In a heavy 4- to 5- quart enameled casserole, cook the onions over moderate heat for 5 or 6 minutes, until they are soft and dry. Don’t let them burn.

Stir in the niter kebbeh and, when it begins to plutter, add the garlic, ginger, fenugreek, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg, stirring well after each addition.

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Add the paprika and berbere, and stir over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes.

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Stir in the wine, water, pureed tomato and salt, and bring the liquid to a boil.

height=”442″ class=”aligncenter size-large wp-image-8040″ />In Ethiopia, the word wat is basically the word for stew. But this is no ordinary stew. The Ethiopian wats, no matter what meat is used, are spicy, saucy stews of vibrant color and endless flavors.

Add the beef cubes and turn them about with a spoon until they are evenly coated with the sauce.

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Then reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan partially and simmer the beef for about 1 1/2 hours. Sprinkle the wat with a few grindings of pepper and taste for seasoning.

sik4Sik sik wat is traditionally accompanied by injera or yewollo ambasha (recipe coming soon), but may also be eaten with Arab-style flat bread or hot boiled rice. Yegomen kitfo and/or plain yoghurt may be served with the wat from separate bowls.

Niter Kibbeh

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If you are ever lucky enough to get an Ethiopian cab driver, like I have a few times, bring up Ethiopian food to them. They love when you love their food. It always embarrassed my kids, of course. As soon as I asked, “Are you from Ethiopia?” they would roll their eyes, because they knew what was coming. I would ask only because their names were always Haile on their licenses. But I love talking to these men because I really do love Ethiopian food and also want to get correct pronounciations for the names of the dishes. Unfortunately none of these men actually knew about cooking any of the dishes, perhaps because women do all of the cooking? But they always knew the names and the significant ingredients, so that was fun. It’s also how I got a name of an Ethiopian market in Dallas one time. Unfortunately I haven’t been yet but it would be a fabulous experience.

Niter Kibbeh, which I don’t know how to pronounce, is a spiced, clarified butter. Along with berberé, it is necessary for cooking Ethiopian cuisine.

Here are the directions for making it, and next we start cooking Ethiopian food!

Niter Kebbeh
Spiced Butter Oil

To make about 2 cups

2 pounds unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 small onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
4 teaspoons finely chopped ginger root
1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 cardamom pod, slightly crushed with the flat of a knife, or a pinch of cardamom seeds
1 piece of stick cinnamon, 1 inch long
1 whole clove
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

In a heavy 4- to 5-quart saucepan, heat the butter over moderate heat, turning it about with a spoon to melt it slowly and completely without letting it brown. Then increase the heat and bring the butter to a boil. When the surface is completely covered with white foam, stir in the remaining ingredients.

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Reduce the heat to the lowest possible point and simmer uncovered and undisturbed for 45 minutes, or until the milk solids on the bottom of the pan are a golden brown and the butter on top is transparent.

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Slowly pour the clear liquid into a bowl, straining it through a fine sieve lined with a linen towel or cheesecloth. Discard the seasonings. If there are any solids left in the butter, strain it again to prevent it from becoming rancid later.

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Pour the kebbeh into a jar, cover tightly, and store in the refrigerator. Kebbeh will solidify when chilled.

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Ethiopian Cuisine

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At first glance, you don’t think that the two words should go together, right? But despite the atrocities that have occurred in Ethiopia, and the extreme poverty that has stricken the nation, their cuisine is uniquely complex and vibrant.

If you’ve ever eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant, you know that you’re typically served meat stew, known as wat, along with vegetables, placed on top of a crepe-looking spongy bread called injera. You eat with your hands, using the injera to pick up the food. It’s a fabulous experience, and one I highly recommend.

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My first time eating Ethiopian food? In my dining room when I was in high school. It was during the period of time when my mother was cooking a different international cuisine every week or so. It would be German, then Chinese, then Russian, then Indian, then Ethiopian! I remember really enjoying all the smells and the flavors, although some of the dishes were too hot-spicy for me. (Sadly, I was a little slow developing my taste for anything hot-spicy, even salsa!)

The book my mother cooked out of was – you guessed it – the Time Life Series called Foods of the World – African Cooking.

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Which is what I’m cooking out of today. Although I do own other cookbooks that pertain to more restricted cuisines of the African continent, this cookbook contains two “seasoning mixtures” that are necessary to prepare prior to beginning the foray into the wonderful world of Ethiopian food.

I have to mention that when I married my husband, he was very meat-and-potatoes, not that it was his fault. But as I cooked different international cuisines and we ate, he quickly expanded his culinary repertoire. To the point that, he asked me to make Ethiopian food for Thanksgiving the second year we were married!

The first recipe, below, is a spice paste called Berberé. I’ve just recently noticed that it can be purchased, but it’s so easy to make. It is a paprika-based spice mixture that is toasted, cooked, and turned into a paste. I will type the actual recipe as it is in the cookbook.

Berberé
Red-Pepper and Spice Pasta

1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons dry red wine
2 cups paprika
2 tablespoons ground hot red pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups water
1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

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In a heavy 2- to 3- quart saucepan (preferably one with an enameled or nonstick cooking surface), toast the ginger, cardamom, coriander, fenugreek, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and allspice over low heat for a minute or so, stirring them constantly until they are heated through. Then remove the pan from the heat and let the spices cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

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Combine the toasted spices, onions, garlic, 1 tablespoon of the salt and the wine in the jar of an electric blender and blend at high speed until the mixture is a smooth paste.

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Combine the paprika, red pepper, black pepper and the remaining tablespoon of salt in the saucepan and toast them over low heat for a minute or so, until they are heated through, shaking the pan and stirring the spices constantly.

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Stir in the water, 1/4 cup at a time, then add the spice-and-wine mixture. berb2

Stirring vigorously, cook over the lowest possible heat for 10 to 15 minutes.

With a rubber spatula, transfer the berberé to a jar or crock, and pack it in tightly.

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Let the paste cool to room temperature, then dribble enough oil over the top to make a film at least 1/4 inch thick. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. If you replenish the film of oil on top each time you use the berberé, it can safely be kept in the refrigerator for 5 or 6 months.

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Now for my confession. I don’t know where my head was. I mean, I’ve made this stuff before and the recipe is so straight forward. But I accidentally grabbed my 16 ounce bag of paprika and used it, instead of measuring out 2 cups. As I proceeded with the recipe and it was not behaving properly, it dawned on me what I’d done. Oh well. I fudged everything and got it all to work, and hopefully have all the right proportions of ingredients. But that’s why, in case you’re really observant, you’ll notice that my wine-spice paste is actually a liquid. I needed a lot more liquid to turn all of that paprika and other spices into the resulting berberé!

Tomorrow? Niter Kebbeh !