Ethiopian Chicken and Red Lentil Soup (Ye Misir Shorba be Doro)
Ethiopia is home to rich and complex stewed meats and vegetables. Most often, each dish starts with butter. Ethiopians have a graded system from fresh butter to several levels of fermented butter, making sure that they can preserve what they do not use immediately. This process of fermenting butter – similar to injera, their staple fermented flatbread made with tĕ – provides health as well as preservation benefits. This stew is always eaten with injera. Ethiopians use their hands to eat, scooping up sauce and meat with the flatbread as their tool. Injera is less commonly found outside of Ethiopia. Ethiopian dishes are served with rice when injera is not available, although rice is not a native grain to the country and is rarely eaten there.
Ingredients 14
1 chicken, quartered
1450 ml water
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp chicken fat, rendered
40 g butter
2 red onion, large, cut into 5 mm (1⁄4 in) cubes
3 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
2 1⁄2 tbsp berbere spice mix
2 1⁄2 cm pieces ginger, peeled, very finely chopped
60 ml dry red wine
200 g diced tomatoes, canned
250 g red lentils, thoroughly rinsed
1 lemon, juiced
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Your new home
for cooking
Turn your recipe chaos into a plan for the week.
Browse 1000+ inspiring creator recipes
Unlimited recipe import from social media, blogs and more
Generate shopping lists and meal plans in seconds with AI
Method 6
Place the and or stock in a large pot with the . Weigh down the chicken under a few small plates to keep it submerged and simmer gently over a medium heat until the chicken pieces are cooked through, about 7–10 minutes for the breasts and 15–18 minutes for the legs and thighs. The meat should separate from the end of the leg bone when cooked, a thermometer will read 74°C (165°F) when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh or breast and the juices of the chicken will run clear.
When the is cooked, remove from the pot and leave until cool enough to handle, then remove the chicken skin. Cut large chunks of the chicken on the bone (leg, thigh, half breasts) and reserve to serve larger pieces of chicken in the broth. Alternatively, shred all the meat and set aside. Strain the broth and reserve.
Wipe out the pot, then add the or oil and and melt over a medium heat. Add the , , and and cook slowly for 3–4 minutes, stirring constantly, until the vegetables are soft.
Add the and cook, stirring, for 2–4 minutes until the wine evaporates. Add the and and stir to combine.
Add the reserved , then bring to a very gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes, or until the are tender. Add the reserved to the soup and stir to combine.
Squeeze the juice into the soup, adding as much tangy flavor as possible without it becoming sour. Season with and freshly ground black pepper and serve.
