Look for Ethiopian Berbere spice—a mixture of dried chiles, cloves, ginger, coriander, and allspice—at gourmet markets and specialty stores, or order it from americanspice.com. This stew recipe is not one to be missed.
I absolutely loved this, as did my family. My only negative comment (if you want to call it that) is that it is called a "stew". To me, a stew involves meat, poultry, or shrimp. This is more of a nice hearty "soup". I have made this several times as a soup and was looking for a real "stew" recipe to add meat to. I can probably just add shredded chicken, lamp or beef cubes and make it a stew! I will try that.
We did not enjoy this as other reviewers did. We found the flavor very unidimensional and the red onion too strong. Will not make it again.
Your lentils may have been older. Be sure you have fresh lentils from a place with good turnover. Enjoy!
Great weeknight dinner. My husband and I love Ethiopian food - especially lentils. I'm a vegetarian, so this is perfect (and inexpensive!). For my husband, I added a chicken breast grilled with Berbere seasoning and a little olive oil rub.
Delicious and easy to prepare. I omitted the cilantro (don't like it) and served over brown rice. It's also nice with a dollop of fat-free Greek yogurt. The left-overs are great, too, for reheating at work for lunch.
Fantastic Ethiopian flavour. I added 2 cups of diced peppers to try and get some veg in here. It is super filling and I ended up making it into 5 portions instead of 4, and would probably do 6 next time. Super good when reheated as leftovers! Definitely will do this again.
LOVE it! My friend, Marianne, served it at a birthday party and we all raved. She was kind enough to share the recipe. So this is the first time I made it. I doubled the recipe and plan to freeze individual portions for lunches. True to the name, it was spicy. If you're not crazy about heat, you may want to back off on the Berere spice a bit. You could always add more at the end.
An excellent dish. You can find recipes on the web for the Berbere powder. Served with zafarani rice. A must try for a good vegetarian meal.
this is awesome and easy.
Though I personally haven't made this, I had a friend bring it to a dinner party and it was outstanding. EVERYONE loved it and her dish was quickly empty. I requested the recipe from her and will make it tonight. I'm going to double the recipe in order to have enough to take to a potluck I'm attending tomorrow. Fortunately she told me which of our specialty grocery stores carries the berbere spice.
Love this recipe. The flavors and smells are a wonderful warm combination. It is easy to make and very filling. My whole family enjoys it (even my 3 year old). I make it a little less spicy for her though. I make it as a quick after work family meal, and have also made it for guests. Adding a little sour cream on top can be really nice. It was a little difficult to find the berebere spice blend, but is SO worth it.
Very Good!
Terrific! This was cheap, very easy and spicy. The one cup rice/one cup lentil serving size was also quite filling. The one thing I found was that it took quite a bit longer to cook the lentils through, almost twice as long when cooked on a low simmer and partially covered. Even then they were somewhat tough. Not sure why. Next time I may try a more vigorous simmer. In any case, this recipe is a keeper.
This is a really great recipe. The spices are perfectly balanced, and I prepared the recipe as written. It's part of my family's regular rotation of weeknight meals.
I've made this recipe several times and it always turns out well. (Last time I used jarred minced garlic and dried cilantro flakes instead of fresh, and there was no appreciable loss in quality.) Hearty, nutritious, pleasantly spicy, and just as delicious when reheated the next day.
The only change I made was using plain old brown rice. I loved this dish and will make it again. Healthful and tasty.
Great recipe. It was very flavorful and easy to make.
We absolutely loved this stew with brown basmati rice. It was rustic, earthy, and SPICY! We ended up making our own Berbere spice blend using a recipe found on the web (the base of the blend is cayenne pepper, so it's very hot). It went together very quickly and doesn't need to sit to achieve its full flavor - a great weeknight dish. We will definitely be making this again.
