Name: Ethiopian Doro Wat
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 5
Cuisine: إثيوبية
Ingredients: 1 kg chicken pieces (thighs and drumsticks), skin removed; 4 large onions, very finely chopped; 1/2 cup berbere spice blend (or to taste for heat); 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tbsp grated ginger; 1/2 cup Ethiopian spiced butter (niter kibbeh) or regular butter; 1 cup chicken stock or water; 5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled; Juice of 1 lemon; Salt, to taste; Injera bread, to serve

Ethiopia's national dish: a rich red chicken stew built on slow-cooked onions and spicy berbere seasoning, served over spongy injera bread with hard-boiled eggs.

خطوات التحضير

Place the chopped onions in a wide, dry pot with no oil or water, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for 20-25 minutes until fully broken down and light brown.

Add the Ethiopian spiced butter or regular butter and stir until melted into the onions.

Add the berbere, garlic and ginger, and stir well for 2 minutes to release the flavour.

Gradually pour in the stock or water while stirring, and let it simmer gently for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly.

Add the chicken pieces to the sauce, making sure they are well coated.

Cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and has absorbed the spice flavour.

Make shallow slits in the boiled eggs and add them to the pot in the last 10 minutes so they soak up the sauce's colour and flavour.

Add the lemon juice and adjust salt.

Serve doro wat hot over a layer of injera bread, with extra pieces of bread on the side.

نصيحة

Do not rush the dry onion-cooking stage — it is the foundation of the dish's flavour and texture. Adjust the amount of berbere according to your preferred heat level.

Doro wat is Ethiopia's national dish and a masterpiece of traditional Ethiopian cuisine. Its name literally means «chicken stew» in Amharic, and it is known for its deep red colour and rich, spicy flavour derived from berbere, a complex Ethiopian spice blend that includes hot red pepper, garlic, ginger and various other spices.

The dish is built on cooking very large quantities of onion slowly, without oil at first, until they completely break down and caramelize — an essential step that gives the sauce its rich texture. Chicken and hard-boiled eggs are added later to soak up the spicy sauce, and the dish is traditionally served over spongy injera bread made from fermented teff flour, which is used itself as the utensil for scooping up the food instead of a fork and knife.