Description
Doro wat is the queen of Ethiopian cooking — a deeply spiced chicken stew built on a base of slow-cooked onions and berbere spice, enriched with spiced butter and finished with hard-boiled eggs. It is traditionally served on injera, the spongy sourdough flatbread that doubles as plate and utensil. The berbere is what makes it — a warm, complex blend of chiles and spices that has no substitute.
Ingredients
Units
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken drumsticks
- 6 large red onions, finely diced
- 4 tablespoons niter kibbeh (Ethiopian spiced butter) or clarified butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
- 3 tablespoons berbere spice blend
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
- Injera bread for serving
Instructions
- Remove skin from the chicken drumsticks. Score the meat with 2 deep cuts to the bone. Rub with lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside 30 minutes.
- In a large dry Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the diced onions without any oil for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are deeply softened and starting to brown. This slow dry-cooking builds the flavor base.
- Add the spiced butter. Stir in garlic and ginger and cook 2 minutes. Add berbere and tomato paste and stir 3 minutes until the spices are fragrant and the paste darkens.
- Pour in the red wine and broth. Stir well, scraping up any fond. Bring to a simmer.
- Add the chicken drumsticks, spooning sauce over them. Cover and simmer on low for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is very tender and the sauce is thick and rich.
- Score each hard-boiled egg with a few shallow cuts. Add the eggs to the stew and simmer 10 more minutes so they absorb the sauce.
- Season with remaining salt and pepper. Serve over injera, tearing pieces of bread to scoop up the stew, chicken, and eggs.
Notes
- Dry-cooking the onions before adding fat is the traditional technique — it concentrates their sweetness and builds a deeper flavor foundation than sauteing in oil.
- Berbere spice is available at specialty spice shops and online. There is no good shortcut — it is the soul of the dish.
- Scoring the chicken and eggs allows the intensely flavored sauce to penetrate, so every bite carries the full spectrum of spice.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Ethiopian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 480
- Sugar: 6
- Sodium: 770
- Fat: 24
- Carbohydrates: 20
- Fiber: 3
- Protein: 40
- Cholesterol: 310