Doro Wat — Ethiopian Chicken Stew
Ethiopia's national dish: chicken slow-cooked in a deep red berbere and onion sauce, finished with whole boiled eggs.
Method
- Toss the chicken with the lemon juice and a good pinch of salt and set aside while you start the onions. The acid firms the surface and freshens the flavour.
- Put the chopped onions in a wide, heavy pot over medium-low heat with no fat at all. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until they collapse, lose their water and turn jammy and golden. This dry-cooking stage is the foundation of the dish and cannot be rushed.
- Add the niter kibbeh and stir until melted and absorbed. Cook for 5 minutes more, until the onions turn glossy and begin to catch slightly on the base.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for 2 minutes, then add the berbere and tomato paste. Cook gently for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring constantly so the spice toasts without burning; the sauce will darken to a deep brick red and the fat will start to separate.
- Pour in the water a little at a time, stirring to a thick, smooth sauce the consistency of double cream. Simmer for 10 minutes to let the raw edge cook out of the berbere.
- Add the chicken pieces, turning to coat them completely. Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a splash of water if the sauce tightens too far.
- Uncover and cook for a further 15 to 20 minutes, until the chicken is falling from the bone and the oil has risen to the surface in a visible red layer — the traditional sign that a wat is ready.
- Score each boiled egg lightly two or three times with a knife so the sauce can penetrate, then nestle them into the pot. Add the cardamom and simmer for 10 minutes more.
- Taste for salt and heat, rest off the heat for 10 minutes, then serve directly onto injera with extra injera folded alongside.
How to make Doro Wat — Ethiopian Chicken Stew
Doro wat is the dish Ethiopians cook when an occasion matters. It is eaten at Christmas and Easter, at weddings, and when breaking the long fasting periods of the Orthodox calendar, served over injera with the eggs arranged across the top.
The onions are the recipe
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Nothing defines doro wat more than the volume of onions and the way they are cooked. More than a kilo goes into a pot serving six, and they are cooked dry at first, with no fat, until their moisture has gone and they break down into a thick pulp. That pulp, not flour or cream, is what thickens the sauce.
Berbere and niter kibbeh
Berbere is the chilli and spice blend at the heart of Ethiopian cooking, typically chilli, fenugreek, korarima, ginger, garlic and more. Niter kibbeh is butter clarified with spices such as fenugreek, cardamom and ajwain. Both vary by household and by market, so add berbere gradually and taste: blends differ enormously in heat.
Knowing when it is done
Ethiopian cooks look for the fat separating and rising in a red layer on the surface. That is the point at which the spices have cooked through and the sauce has reduced properly. A wat that still tastes raw or gritty needs more time, not more spice.
Serving
Serve on a shared tray lined with injera, with the sauce ladled into the centre and extra rolls of injera on the side for tearing and scooping. Ayib, a mild fresh cheese, and gomen, stewed greens, are the usual accompaniments and temper the heat.
Traditional Ethiopian cookery, the dish most associated with holidays, weddings and Sunday gatherings. Editorially researched from widely documented preparations, and not kitchen-tested by Axadle.
Contains dairy from niter kibbeh (spiced clarified butter) and egg. Use oil instead of niter kibbeh and omit the eggs for a vegan-friendly sauce. Check your berbere blend for added wheat flour.
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