A New Food Experience!

About a month ago, my husband had the opportunity to try Ethiopian cuisine at Makeda's. He was delighted by his experience.

Traditionally, "Ethiopian cuisine characteristically consists of vegetable and often very spicy meat dishes, usually in the form of wat (also w'et or wot), a thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread...made out of fermented teff flour" (Wikipedia). No utensils are generally used; the flatbread serves as your spoon.

Well, after feasting on the accoutrements at Makeda's, he was inspired to try to recreate the dish himself, and he did so pretty successfully, using the following recipe from whats4eats.com.

Mesir Wat

(Ethiopian red lentil puree)

Mesir, or lentil, wat is one of several types of bean or lentil stews that are served with Ethiopian meals. They are especially popular during fasting days and the meatless period of Lent.

4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• Onions, chopped -- 2
• Garlic, crushed -- 2 cloves
• Ginger, peeled and minced -- 2 teaspoons
• Oil, butter or niter kibbeh -- 1/4 cup
• Paprika -- 2 tablespoons
• Turmeric -- 1 teaspoon
• Cayenne pepper -- 1/2 to 2 teaspoons
• Red lentils, rinsed -- 1 pound
• Water or stock -- 4 cups
• Salt and pepper -- to taste

Method

1. Place the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor or blender and puree. Add a little water if necessary.
2. Heat the oil, butter or niter kibbeh in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium flame. Add turmeric, paprika and cayenne pepper and stir rapidly to color the oil and cook spices through, about 30 seconds.
3. Add the onion puree and sauté until the excess moisture evaporates and the onion loses its raw aroma, about 5-10 minutes. Do not burn.
4. Add lentils and water to the saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until lentils are cooked through and fall apart, about 30 to 40 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep the lentils from drying out.
5. Stir in salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Variations

• Shiro Wat: use split green peas instead of lentils. In Ethiopia, shiro wat is made with a premade mix of powdered green peas and spices. But as this mix is virtually impossible to purchase outside Ethiopia, split green peas are an acceptable substitute.
• Substitute yellow lentils if you like.

Notes

• Red lentils are called masoor dal in India and can be found in most Indian markets.
• Sometimes spelled misir wat.

It turned out great and was quite delicious. We did not have ours with a flatbread (a small ingredient oversight), but paired it with brown rice mixed with corn and pinto beans. And, I opted to use tortilla chips as my spoon. :)

As with any first attempt at a new food item, some options for improvement were identified. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this dish! It's pretty simple to pair with rice. And apparently, there are many variations of wat, so give it a try and experiment! Let me know if you find any other great recipes!!