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Doro wat, chicken and egg stew with berbere
Doro wat is the great feast dish of Ethiopia: chicken and whole boiled eggs in a deep red sauce built on a mountain of onions cooked slowly for an hour, then berbere and niter kibbeh (spiced clarified butter). It is rich, warm with chilli and dark with spice, and it is eaten with injera from one shared platter.
- 2 hours 30 minutes
- Prep 30 minutes
- Cook 2 hours
- Serves 4
Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.
Ingredients
- 120g unsalted butter (for the niter kibbeh)
- 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (stands in for koseret, an Ethiopian herb)
- 1kg red onions, very finely chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- A thumb of ginger (about 30g), finely grated
- 3 tablespoons berbere (Ethiopian chilli spice blend, from world-food shops)
- 8 skinless chicken thighs on the bone (about 1.2kg)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 4 large eggs
- Half a teaspoon ground cardamom, to finish
Let's cook
- Make the niter kibbeh. Melt the butter in a small pan on a low heat with the fenugreek, cardamom pods and oregano. Let it bubble very gently for 15 minutes until the white solids sink and turn pale gold and the butter smells nutty. Pour it through a fine sieve lined with kitchen paper and keep the clear golden butter.
- Put the chicken in a bowl with the lemon juice and cold water to cover, and leave it while you cook the onions. This is how it is done at home: it freshens the meat. Wash your hands and anything the raw chicken touched.
- Put the onions in a large heavy casserole with no fat at all, on a medium low heat. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring often, until they collapse and turn soft and jammy. If they catch, add a splash of water.
- Add half the niter kibbeh, the garlic and the ginger and cook for 30 minutes more on a low heat, stirring now and then, until the onions are a deep reddish brown paste. This slow hour is what makes doro wat.
- Stir in the berbere and cook for 3 minutes, stirring, until it darkens and smells toasty. Add 400ml water and the salt and bring to a simmer.
- Drain the chicken, add it to the pot and turn it in the sauce. Cover and simmer gently for 40 to 45 minutes, turning the pieces twice, until the meat pulls easily from the bone. The thickest piece must reach 75C on a probe thermometer, or show clear juices and no pink by the bone.
- Meanwhile, boil the eggs for 9 minutes, cool them in cold water and peel them. Score each egg lightly with the tip of a knife in a few places so the sauce soaks in.
- Add the eggs and the rest of the niter kibbeh to the pot and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Stir in the ground cardamom, taste for salt and serve with injera, a chicken thigh or two and an egg for each person.
Tips
- Chop the onions as finely as you can, or pulse them in a food processor: fine onions melt into the sauce and thicken it.
- Doro wat tastes even better the next day. Cool it within 2 hours, keep it covered in the fridge for up to 2 days and reheat gently until steaming hot all the way through.
- Berbere blends vary in heat. Start with 2 tablespoons if yours is fiery, and add more once you taste.
Swaps
- Quicker: buy ready made niter kibbeh from an Ethiopian shop and use 80g, and skip the first step.
- Milder: use 2 tablespoons berbere and 1 tablespoon sweet paprika.
Tags
Contains: Milk, Eggs .
Milk (the butter for the niter kibbeh; ready made niter kibbeh is milk too) and eggs (the boiled eggs). Chicken, onions, garlic, ginger, lemon and spices contain none of the 14. Most berbere blends contain none of the 14, but check the label as some are packed alongside mustard, sesame or wheat. Use fresh lemon: bottled lemon juice can hold sulphites.
Check every packet for allergens.