Doro wat

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This is Ethiopia’s most famous and prestigious dish, translating literally as ‘chicken stew’.  Chickens are very expensive to buy in Ethiopia and therefore a luxury food for a special occasion.  One chicken can go a long way, especially when combined with 4kg of onions!  The key to the success of this dish is the slow cooking of the onions – around four hours.

Doro wat should be served with injera, Ethiopia’s staple flat ‘bread’, which can be bought in London from Ethiopian shops and restaurants, either home-made or imported from Ethiopia where it is made with the indigenous tef flour (gluten free and high in iron).  Berbere powder and nit’ir qibe (spiced butter) can also be found.

This recipe is only slightly adapted from the one kindly taught to me by Egigayeu Abebe in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia, 2011).  Egigayeu is my friend Nebiat’s mother, a formidable cook and patient teacher.