Chicken Meat and a Pint of Spices

Today I made doro wat (Ethiopian chicken stew) again, and I think it’s time to change the model.

Doro wat starts with a big pile of spices. The main spice is paprika, but it also contains pepper, cumin, cardamom, and some other things. You throw the dry spices in a skillet and heat them until they smoke. The spices alone, for my two pounds of meat, must have amounted to 6 dry ounces.

My recommendation: replace half of the cardamom with black cardamom, which is stronger. Black cardamom is also smoked, so that adds something.

Another thing: take the amount of sauce in whatever recipe you use, and double it. The sauce is really important.

This dish is traditionally served with boiled eggs. You simmer it with chicken for 40 minutes, and then you add boiled eggs and continue for another 20 minutes. As I was eating it today, I saw the error. Doro wat needs FRIED eggs. They should be fried at a fairly high temperature so you get some browning and little semi-crunchy areas.

Instead of simmering the eggs with the chicken, you could fry them over easy and add them at the end. Then you would get tasty soft yolks.

Here’s another idea for changing the spices: replace a third of the paprika with hot chipotle powder, which is really just a type of paprika. It helps a lot.

I put minced habaneros in my doro wat. It’s just not hot enough without them.

I serve it with cold sour cream on the side. This is mandatory. I don’t care what Ethiopians say. Sour cream and spicy food are a marriage made in heaven. The fat lets you crank up the heat without pain.

If you’ve never had doro wat, you have no idea what I’m talking about. It’s very nice. I would describe it as chicken-based Ethiopian beanless chili.

Today I ate my doro wat with rice. The traditional thing is a huge pancake, but that really adds to the labor.

I have given up on myself as a rice preparer. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t cook rice a couple of times a month, I lose my touch. Every stove is different, and you forget the perfect heat setting. I gave in and ordered a machine that cooks rice. This is one area where I’m totally confident in Chinese appliances. If there’s one thing they’re going to do right…

I’m getting a computerized pressure cooker that does a bunch of things in addition to cooking rice. People rave about it. Sounded like a good idea to me. Alton Brown may ruin steaks with his odd preparation method, and my wild guess is that he’s probably not a great cook, but I think he’s right about kitchen tools that only do one job. It’s generally best to buy things that have versatility.

I’m not getting back into cooking. I’m just trying to do things right and expand my capabilities. I have gotten into a dinner rut, so anything that opens up new possibilities is probably a good move. Steak and spaghetti are wearing me down.

Here’s my opinion on the popularity of Ethiopian food: it would be much higher if Ethiopians had some understanding of sanitation. When you order food at an Ethiopian restaurant, they bring your table a huge platter of pancakes, and they dump everyone’s entrees on it. Then everyone tears the pancakes, puts food on the torn bits, rolls them up, and eats them. It’s the opposite of social distancing. It’s social proximation, and it’s gross and dangerous.

When I go out to eat, I just want food and conversation. I don’t want to get herpes.

This dish is delightful. It makes the house smell wonderful, the spices open up your head, and if you make it spicy, you get that nice capsaicin buzz.

I just updated my recipe. I’ll post most of it below. Maybe you’ll like it.

This is what passes for excitement during these challenging times.

By the way, I saw a bunch of packages of paper towels at my local Winn-Dixie today, and I also had no problem buying mouthwash, which is still a good idea even when you’re staying 6 feet away from people.

No major celebrities have died. Amazing. John Prine is gone, but you probably have no idea who he is. He wrote two fairly well-known songs. He was 73 and looked to be in pretty bad shape. He had severe heart problems, and he was a lung cancer “survivor,” which generally means remission, not a cure. He was a former cigarette smoker, so his lungs were badly damaged even if he was cured.

The Chinese found that smokers in a study were 14 times as likely to develop pneumonia as other coronavirus patients.

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds chicken legs and thighs or boneless chicken
6 eggs
2 softball-sized white onions, chopped finely (or coarsely)
1-2 very large habanero or Scotch bonnet peppers, minced
1 cups chicken or beef broth
½ cup red wine
8 tbsp. tomato paste
1 stick butter
2-4 heaping tbsp. minced fresh ginger
4 tbsp. shallots, chopped finely
2 heaping tablespoons pressed garlic
2 teaspoon salt
Juice of 2 lemons
4 tbsp. paprika
2 tbsp. chipotle powder
½ tsp. allspice
½ tsp. turmeric
1- ½ tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cardamom
1 tsp. ground black cardamom
1 tbsp. ground fenugreek
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. cinnamon

I’ve made this with chicken breast, but it tends to be dry. Traditionally, chicken pieces with bones (legs and thighs) are used. I leave the skin on. I think the bones improve the texture of the sauce, but they make the dish a pain to eat. I suppose you could boil chicken bones in the chicken broth if you wanted the thick sauce but not bones in your food.

If you’re using breast meat, cut the chicken in chunks twice as big as a sugar cube. If not, you can toss the pieces in whole or cut them up Asian-style with a cleaver. Salt the chicken well and add the juice of two lemons. Stir it up and let it sit for at least half an hour. You can cheat by using ¼ teaspoon of citric acid if you don’t have lemons.

Fry the eggs. Fry them on the hot side so you get some little crunchy areas.

Heat a large skillet (medium heat). Throw the dry spices in the hot skillet. Stir them around with a spatula while you toast them for about three minutes. A little smoke is okay, but don’t burn them. The scent will change, and you’ll know they’re done. Dump them in a bowl, and wipe the skillet out with a wet paper towel.

Get the skillet hot again and throw the onions in, dry. Stir them as you cook them, so they don’t scorch. When they start to turn clear, or if they begin to brown, add the butter and the shallots and continue to cook until the shallots turn clear.

Throw the rest of the ingredients in the pan, except for the chicken and eggs. Stir and simmer until everything is mixed well. Add the chicken. If you really want to go crazy, brown the chicken in oil or clarified butter before you add it.

Simmer the chicken and other ingredients for 40 minutes. Add the eggs. Cook for 20 more minutes.

Traditional doro wat uses boiled eggs. If you use them, pierce them with a skewer before adding to the stew.