Spicing it up for mid-winter

Posted by Michael on Jan 30, 2010 in Recipes | 1 comment

Back in 1996, a friend of mine took my future wife and I to an Ethiopian restaurant in Toronto.  I didn’t have a clue what to expect be we fumbled through it with the guidance of our more Ethiopian-experienced friend.

We ordered our dishes and a couple of drinks, then minutes later, out came all of our food, arranged on one giant plate that was lined with what we would later learn was injera bread, a kind of puffy pancake.   There were no utensils in sight, so it was quickly explained that you tear off bits of injera in front of you, wrap it around bits of the spicy stews and chutneys and pop it in your mouth.   After a little while, you actually got to a point where you didn’t have a bunch of saucey food on your hands.   What started a little daunting quickly became a whole lot of fun, and the flavour was absolutely incredible.   Very earthy curries with loads of chili heat, served alongside some cooling chutney and vegetables.

Immediately after that meal I set out to find out how to make some of this food, especially my favourite dish of the night, Doro Wat, a tomato chicken stew.    On a later trip to Ottawa, I popped into an Indigo book store and found The Africa News Cookbook – African Cooking for Western Kitchens.   And there it was, the berebere paste that forms the magic flavour of the dish and a full recipe for Doro Wat.

Since then I have satisfied my occasional cravings for spice and heat with a pot of wat.  It’s even been known to be my birthday dinner because what else would you have on your birthday other than your favourite meal?

Last night I was on my own for supper so it was a perfect opportunity to fire it up in the kitchen and make some spicey chicken stew.   Here’s how the paste went together.   Get your hands on the Africa News Cookbook and try it yourself!

Toasting the spices.  Includes cardamom, pepper, fenugreek, allspice and cumin.

A heaping half cup of sweet shallots that give the curry paste great flavour and volume.

The finished berebere curry paste.  Includes the toasted spices,  shallots and about 50 dried hot chilies, along with a little dried ginger, turmeric and salt, all blended til smooth.

The finished dish, chicken and whole egg that has been stewed in the spicy sauce.  Simply served with rice in this case.