Our first Ethiopian meal featured a chicken stew called Doro Wat, and Ye’abesha Gomen, or collard greens, served with injera.
So far, Ethiopia has had the most time and labor-intensive recipes. In preparing to make all of the Ethiopian dishes, I kept coming across two key ingredients that also had to be homemade: nitter kibbeh and berbere. This means that before I could even begin making the stew and vegetables, I had to set about getting these ingredients ready.
Nitter kibbeh turns out to be type of spice-infused, clarified butter. And it makes the kitchen smell oh-so-amazing. You start by toasting the spices in a pot and then adding butter. It has to melt and simmer on low for an hour or so before you can strain it to clarify it. Then it can be used in the recipes as the oil for sauteing.
Berbere is a spice blend, also made with toasted spices and chili peppers for heat. I didn't have the dried chili peppers that the recipe called for, so I just toasted fresh green ones with the other spices and pulled them out before grinding them and mixing everything together. I also added some red pepper flakes to the mix, for extra measure.
Both of these ingredients earn 5 stars in my book. I would regularly use them to cook with because they are so full of FLAVOR!
Now, on to the main events:
DISH 1: Doro Wat
The doro wat is a simple but spicy chicken stew. It's made by sauteing onions and then garlic and ginger in the nitter kibbeh. Next, you add the berbere spice blend and continue to saute on low for a while. Finally, you add the chicken that's been marinading in lemon juice, along with chicken broth and honey wine, and you simmer it on low while the chicken cooks. The last step is to add hard-boiled eggs to the stew and continue simmering for a few more minutes.
I liked this recipe, but I wouldn't say that it was outstanding or overly exotic. It was comforting, like any good stew should be. I think I would have liked it better with real bread as opposed to scooping it up with the injera. My rating was 3/5 stars.
Dish 2: Ye’abesha Gomen
I found several different recipes for gomen. This is the recipe that I followed most closely, but I also added the spices from this recipe, because I firmly believe in adding as much flavor as possible to every meal.
To be honest, I have never made collard greens before. I'm not even sure I've ever tried them before! So this recipe ended up being decent, as a far as green food is concerned. I could really taste the infused butter, which I loved. But there was also an overpowering ginger taste, which I didn't love. I think if I ever make this again, I would opt for fresh ginger or just a bit of powdered ginger, instead of using the paste.
Overall it was 3/5 stars for me. And a few days after I made it, I mixed the leftovers with some white rice and thought that it was still pretty tasty! But for Younes, it was a 1. Maybe I'm just not that picky. Or maybe it's because the man does not like vegetables very much. 😂
The End Results:
Doro wat and gomen served on injera. No utensils necessary.
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