Doro wat
Ethiopia’s celebration stew, chicken and whole eggs in a deep, spicy berbere and onion sauce, made in a fraction of the time in the Instant Pot.
- 80 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.03 a serving
- 780 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 8 chicken drumsticks, about 2 lb, skin pulled off
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 3 yellow onions, finely chopped
- ¼ cup butter
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 3 tbsp berbere seasoning
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- ¾ cup chicken broth
- 4 large eggs
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice
From your pantry
- 1½ tsp salt, divided
- 2¼ cups water
Each serving has about 780 calories, 44 g protein, 75 g carbs and 33 g fat, and costs about $3.03 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the chicken with the lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of the salt then cover it and put it in the fridge. Wash your hands.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Dolly’s tip: Grab the skin with a paper towel and it pulls right off. The lemon brightens the meat, the way it’s done in Ethiopia.Set the Instant Pot to Sauté. Add the onions with no fat at all and cook 10 minutes, stirring often, until soft, golden and shrunk down.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Cooking the onions dry first is the Ethiopian way, and it gives the sauce its deep, sweet body. Add a splash of water if they start to stick.Add the butter, garlic, ginger, berbere and tomato paste and cook 3 minutes, stirring, until dark red and .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Timer: 3 min
Pour in the broth and from the bottom of the pot. Add the chicken and turn it to coat.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Dolly’s tip: Anything left stuck to the bottom can trigger the burn warning, so scrape well.Lock the lid, set the valve to sealing, and pressure cook on high 12 minutes. Let the pressure come down on its own 10 minutes, then release the rest.
Timer: 22 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Meanwhile, cover the eggs with water in a , , and boil 10 minutes over medium. Cool them in cold water, , and cut a few shallow slits in each.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Medium heatTimer: 10 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
the rice and bring it in a with the water.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
High heat
Stir once, cover, turn the heat to low and cook 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Set the pot back to Sauté, add the eggs, and uncovered 5 minutes, spooning sauce over them, until it . Add the rest of the salt if it needs it.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Timer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: The slits let the red sauce seep into the eggs.Serve the chicken, eggs and plenty of sauce over the rice.
Dolly’s tip: Doro wat tastes even better the next day and keeps 4 days in the fridge.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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