Ingredients

• onions (2-3 medium yellow, pureed to make about 3 cups)
• tempeh (2 packages of it) this replaces the chicken (doro)
• small golden potatoes (6, peeled) these replace the eggs
  • you can leave them whole to represent hard-boiled eggs in look (so long as they are small enough), or you can cut them in to sizeable chunks.
• vegetable stock or broth (1.5 cups)
  • if you wish to use an alternative version of tej (Ethiopian honey wine) in this recipe, use 1/2 cup of sweetened wine and only 1 cup of stock/broth.
• salt (personal preference)
• berbere (1/4 cup)
• garlic (2 cloves, minced or pressed)
• ginger (fresh, about an inch long piece, minced; dried, about 1 teaspoon)
• nit’ir qibe (2.5 tablespoons), can be substituted for a spiced oil or just whichever oil you have on you in a pinch, but making a clarified and spiced butter is something that is so valuable to flavour.
• lime juice (squeezed from 1/2 of a lime, I guess about 1 tablespoon)

• Serve this meal with injera (recipe to come)
• cook in a dutch oven

Process

1. Melt nit’ir qibe in the dutch oven and add the pureed onions. Cook this for 20-30 minutes, covered over a low-medium heat, stirring it often.

2. While onion puree cooks, cut the tempeh in to cubes or slices (making sure to half the thickness of the block itself), or in to triangles a là the Union Jack method I show in my tempeh bowl recipe.
3. Put the sliced tempeh in a bowl and squeeze the lime juice over it, let it sit while the onions finish cooking.
4. Peel the potatoes and set aside.

5. Add garlic, ginger and berbere to the dutch oven and stir well. Continue to cook this for another 20-30 minutes, keeping the heat low enough so that it doesn’t burn and stirring often. (Cover the dutch oven while not stirring).

6. Pour stock/broth (and te’j alternative if using that) in to mixture and stir. Turn the heat up just a bit and let it cook for about 3 minutes so the temperature evens out.
7. Add tempeh and potatoes.

8. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes, checking often to make sure it isn’t burning or drying out. If it seems to be losing too much moisture, add more stock/broth. We want the sauce to thicken, but we don’t want it to be too thick. This is a stew, so go for stew consistency.
9. If, after 30 minutes, the potatoes are not soft and cooked through (do a fork test), then you must cook it longer.
10. Add salt to your liking and any more of the already used spices if you think they are needed at this point.
11. Serve with injera or rice and bread.

Notes

• I have seen many versions of Doro We’t which use red onions instead of yellow onions. But I have not tried that yet.
• The peeled, but uncut, potatoes look the best but do not taste the best, because the inside of the potatoes did not soak in all the flavour of the sauce. This can be remedied by cutting the potatoes or cooking the whole thing for much longer.
• This is best when eaten with injera as the utensil. I plan to get a mitad (aka mogogo) so I can make large, perfect injera. It is, after all, my favourite food. But, making little ones works as well.

🇪🇹 Inspired by the national cuisine of Ethiopia.

🐮 Vegan and sesame free, as always.