Doro Wat (Berbere Chicken Stew with Eggs)

Photo: stu_spivack · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source

Ethiopia's celebration stew: a mountain of onions cooked down to a deep, sweet, brick-red sauce with berbere and spiced butter, holding tender chicken and whole eggs.

Ingredients

• 2 lb onions, very finely chopped
• 2 lb boneless chicken thighs, halved
• 4 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
• ¼ cup butter
• 3 tbsp berbere
• 4 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 lemon
• 1½ cups rice, or 4 to 6 store-bought injera

From your pantry: 1 tbsp oil, ½ tsp ground cardamom, ½ tsp ground cumin, ¼ tsp ground fenugreek, ¼ tsp turmeric, 1 tsp salt.

Instructions

1. Toss the chicken with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt and set aside.
2. Put the onions in a dry Dutch oven over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until they collapse, turn jammy and start to color, 25 to 30 minutes. Add a spoonful of water if they catch.
3. Make quick spiced butter: melt the butter with the cardamom, cumin, fenugreek and turmeric over low heat for 2 minutes. Add it to the onions with the oil, garlic, ginger and berbere and fry, stirring, for 3 minutes until dark red and fragrant.
4. Stir in 1½ cups water, add the chicken, cover and simmer gently until the chicken is tender and 175°F inside, 25 to 30 minutes. Start the rice.
5. Score the eggs lightly, nestle them into the sauce and simmer uncovered 10 minutes until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Season with salt and serve with rice or injera.

Tip: Traditional doro wat uses bone-in drumsticks and niter kibbeh (Ethiopian spiced butter); both deepen the flavor. Store-bought injera is sold at Ethiopian markets and many Whole Foods, or warm thin crepes in a skillet as a shortcut.

Nutrition per serving

Good for

Adapted from Glebe Kitchen.

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