Instant Pot Doro Wat – Ethiopian Chicken Stew
"Doro Wat is a flavour-packed Ethiopian stew with tender cooked chicken in a fiery Berbere spiced sauce topped with boiled eggs"
A lovely slow cooked instant pop dish with spectacular flavours of Ethiopia.
This famous African dish has chicken simmered in caramelized onions and a robust Berbere spice blend.
PREP: 15 MINS
COOK: 30 MINS
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 4 People
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 pounds chicken drumsticks 8 pieces, skin removed
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- 2 large red onions finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon ginger grated
- 2 tablespoon garlic pressed
- ⅓ cup Berbere spice blend
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 hard-boiled eggs peeled and sliced into half
METHOD:
- Hard boil eggs. I use Instant Pot to hard boil the eggs but you can also hard boil them on the stovetop. Add 1 cup of water to the instant pot insert. Place eggs on the trivet and pressure cook for 5 minutes. Allow 5 minutes of natural pressure release and then release the rest of the pressure and open the Instant Pot. Run cold water over the eggs or put them in an ice bath. This allows the eggs to stop overcooking. Peel and slice the eggs and keep aside
- Add lemon juice and salt to chicken, mix well and keep aside
- Set the Instant Pot on Saute (Hi) mode and heat ghee. Add onions and saute them for 5 minutes, stirring a few times. Place a lid on top to speed up the process
- Add garlic and ginger and cook for a minute. Turn the Instant Pot off and add ½ cup of water and deglaze the pot using a wooden removing all the browning or stuck bits
- Add the chicken, layer over berbere and tomato paste. Do not mix
- Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing and adjust the cooking time to 8 minutes. Allow natural pressure release for 10 minutes and then open the Instant Pot. Mix well. The stew may look a bit watery at this point, mix gently and simply allow it to cool down for 5 minutes and the stew will continue to thicken
- Stir in hard-boiled eggs, garnish with chopped cilantro and enjoy hot
NOTES:
Don’t have an Instant Pot? Here is how you can adapt this recipe to make on a stove top:
Hard boil the eggs on stovetop. Follow the recipe above but after adding chicken, Berbere and tomato paste, mix everything with additional 1 cup of water and cook covered on medium low heat for 20 to 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Make sure to stir the chicken a few times and add more water if needed. In the end, taste and add more salt and berbere spice if needed. Add boiled eggs and garnish with cilantro.
Note, Skinless chicken drumsticks can be substituted with:
- Bone-in or boneless thighs
- Whole bone in chicken cut into pieces or chicken breasts
- For boneless breasts or thighs that are cut into small 2-inch pieces, reduce the pressure cook time to 5 minutes