Another recipe I have recently made using my slow-cooker is this Ethiopian Chicken and Lentil Stew.
A very hearty and medium-spicy stew which would probably serve at least six people, but I like to have left-overs to pop in my freezer for another day.
You can make the Berbere spice mix yourself as it uses well-known store cupboard spices but it is available to order online from a speciality spice shop, or from Ebay (I’ll pop the recipe below).
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons butter (or oil of your choice)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Berbere spice mix
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 cups sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 chicken breasts
1 cup green split lentils (dried)
1 can (540ml) diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
After Cooking:
Juice from ½ lemon
1 teaspoon brown sugar (I used palm sugar)
Salt if needed
To Serve:
Flatbread or gluten-free pittas / or see below!
Greek Yoghurt
METHOD:
Melt butter in a medium pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 – 8 minutes, until cooked through.
Add the berbere, cardamom, paprika, ginger and garlic, and cook for 1 – 2 minutes until fragrant.
Place the onion mixture in the slow cooker along with all the remaining ingredients.
Cook on low for 6 hours.
Gently stir in the lemon juice, brown sugar and salt (if needed).
Serve with flatbread and yoghurt.
This stew is medium-spicy. If you don’t like spice you will need to reduce the cayenne/red pepper flakes in the berbere spice blend. If you want it really SPICY, double the cayenne/red pepper flakes.
Just before dishing up this delicious stew, I realised that I didn’t have any suitable bread to serve with it. Delving through the freezer I spotted some cauliflower pizza bases – ready cooked and waiting to be topped. I warmed them up and they were the perfect accompaniment to the stew.
This was one of the tastiest stews I have ever eaten. It was the first time I had used Berbere spice mix but it most definitely won’t be the last. The richness and depth of flavour was amazing.
BERBERE SPICE BLEND:
3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon sea salt
½ tablespoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon funugreek seed (or powder)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon garlic powder½ teaspoon ground ginger
Combine all ingredients and store in a sealed container.
Recipe by Sweet Peas and Saffron
NB: All the photographs used in this blog have been taken by me, and are of food I have prepared myself.