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.

Cauliflower Pizza Base “bread” served with Ethiopian Chicken and Lentil Stew

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.