January: Misir Wat
Serves 4
Estimated time for preparation and cooking: 1 hour
This was the first dish cooked as part of the calendar project by two Eritrean young men in our Brent youth club. Misir Wat is a traditional meal cooked in Ethiopia too. The young people chose this dish as it was vegan and could be enjoyed by everyone, together.
Ingredients
1 large tomato
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 cup red lentils
1 cup long grain rice
6 small potatoes
Sunflower oil
Salt
1 tsp hot curry powder
3 tbsp berbere (a spice mix made of paprika together with other spices like garlic, ginger, fenugreek, cumin, cardamom, black pepper and chilli pepper which gives it a kick).
Injera - (a sour fermented pancake-like flatbread with a slightly spongy texture). Search 'where to buy injera near me' online to find a local bakery, purchase here, or alternatively substitute for flatbread.
Recipe
1) Preparing your ingredients
a. Dice the tomato and onion.
b. Chop or mince the garlic.
c. Wash the lentils and rice.
d. Peel the potatoes and chop them into large slices or cubes.
2. Cooking the potatoes
a. Sauté half of the onions in sunflower oil until they turn translucent.
b. Add half of your tomatoes, add salt, stir, and simmer until fragrant.
c. Add all of your potatoes and cover with water, then leave to simmer until cooked through.
3) Cooking the dahl / lentils
a. In a separate pot, sauté the remaining onions in sunflower oil until translucent.
b. Add the remaining tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Stir and simmer until fragrant.
c. Add the curry powder and berbere, and stir to combine until fragrant.
d. Add the red lentils and stir to incorporate.
e. Cover with water and simmer until cooked through.
f. Add the minced garlic to the dahl in the last 10 minutes, and add a pinch of salt to taste.
4) Cooking the rice
Bring a pot of water to the boil with a pinch of salt. Once you can see the bubbles, add your long grain rice. Leave to cook for 13 minutes. For a suggested rice to water ratio, the young person recommends 1.5 cups of water for every cup of rice.
5) Serve!
Serve the lentils, rice and potatoes on top of your Injera or flatbread with a side salad.