Doro Wat
The iconic deep red chicken stew of Ethiopia and Eritrea's shared Habesha cuisine, spiced with berbere, served with injera.
Meat
⚠ Contains: Dairy, Egg. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
How this varies: Some households add a spoonful of tomato paste for color/body (not traditional-classic but common in modern kitchens), and the quantity of berbere/heat level varies widely by family — this dish is meant to be seriously spicy, and diaspora recipes sometimes tone it down for Western palates.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces, skin removed
- Juice of 2 limes (or lemons), plus 1 tsp salt, for cleaning/marinating the chicken
- 4-6 onions, finely chopped (no oil needed to start)
- 1/4 cup niter kibbeh (spiced clarified butter)
- 1/4-1/3 cup berbere spice blend
- 1 tbsp tomato paste (optional, common household addition)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 1-2 cups water or chicken stock
- 4-6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and scored with shallow slashes
- Salt, to taste
- Injera bread, to serve
Steps
- Rub the chicken pieces with lime juice and salt, let sit 15-20 minutes to clean and tenderize, then rinse and pat dry.
- Dry-sauté the chopped onions in a wide, heavy pot over medium-low heat, no oil or butter, stirring often, until they collapse, deepen in color, and reduce to a jammy paste, 45-60 minutes; add a splash of water if they begin to catch.
- Stir in the niter kibbeh, garlic, and ginger, cook 3-5 minutes.
- Add the berbere (and tomato paste, if using), and cook, stirring, 8-10 minutes over low heat to bloom the spices and cook out rawness, adding small splashes of water as needed to keep it from sticking.
- Add the chicken pieces, turning to coat well in the paste, then pour in water or stock to just cover.
- Cover and simmer gently 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is very tender and the sauce is deep red and thick.
- Nestle in the scored hard-boiled eggs, spooning sauce over them, and simmer uncovered 10 more minutes so they absorb color and flavor.
- Season with salt to taste and serve with injera for scooping.