Doro Wat Recipe: How to Make Ethiopian Chicken Stew

Doro wat (also spelled doro wot) is an Ethiopian chicken stew flavored with a spiced butter called niter kibbeh and berbere, a spice blend that often includes fenugreek, hot chiles, paprika, cardamom, and coriander. Toward the end of cooking, hard-boiled eggs are added to the stew. Doro wat is typically served with injera bread, a flatbread made with teff, the staple grain of Ethiopia. It's one of the most recognizable Ethiopian foods and is served in Ethiopian restaurants around the world.

Traditional ingredients for making an authentic doro wat include:

1. 1. Chicken: Doro means chicken in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. You can make doro wat with a whole chicken, chicken thighs, or drumsticks.
2. 2. Niter kibbeh: Niter kibbeh is Ethiopian spiced clarified butter. If you can’t find niter kibbeh, ghee is a great substitute, or you can clarify your own butter. Then, add cardamom, fenugreek, and nigella seeds.
3. 3. Bebere: Berbere is a chile and spice blend used to season many Ethiopian dishes. It often contains ground fenugreek, chiles, paprika, ginger, onion powder, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, garlic, cloves, and cinnamon.
4. 4. Injera: Injera is a spongy Ethiopian flatbread made from a fermented teff flour batter. Teff is a type of millet that’s a staple grain in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it was probably domesticated 6,000 years ago. Gluten-free teff grains are very small, molasses-like in flavor, and high in iron and calcium. If you are unable to find or make injera, serve doro wat with rice.