Misir wat

Ingredients

The lentils

• 400 gsplit red lentils
• misir, rinsed
• about 1.2 litres water

The base

• 4onions, very finely chopped
• 150 mloil
• for a fasting version
• or 100 g niter kibbeh
• spiced clarified butter
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 3cm ginger, grated

The spice

• 4 tablespoonsberbere
• or to taste
• 1 tablespoontomato purée
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• or to taste

To serve

• injera
• as part of beyaynetu
• with other fasting stews

Directions

1. Chop them as finely as you can manage. Butter is melted with spices and strained. Oil replaces it on all fast days. Rinse the red lentils in several waters. It also stops them going gluey. Rinse until the water runs fairly clear. They collapse into a thick puree.
2. Put the finely chopped onions in a dry pot. Add no oil at all at this stage. Cook them over a steady medium heat. Stir them regularly to stop that. They release water within a few minutes.
3. Keep cooking and stirring them. Give them a good twenty minutes. Cook them on if pieces remain. Add the oil or the niter kibbeh. Stir it through the collapsed onions. Cook them for five more minutes. Add the crushed garlic and grated ginger. Cook them for two more full minutes.
4. Add all of the berbere to the pot. Add the tomato purée in with it. Stir it thoroughly through the onions. Cook it for about five minutes. Those five minutes matter a great deal. Keep the heat low at this stage. Stir it constantly throughout.
5. Add a little water if it looks dry. That stops it catching on the bottom. Add the rinsed lentils to the pot. Stir them through the spice base. Add all of the measured water. Add more hot water later if needed. Cooking them takes about thirty minutes. Bring it up to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for about thirty minutes. Stir it regularly all the way through. They burn very quickly if they do.
6. Stir right into the corners of the pot. Use a heavy pot to help with that. Judging them takes a careful taste. Add hot water if it goes too thick. Simmer it longer if it is too thin. Leave it slightly loose for serving. Taste it and adjust the salt as needed.
7. Add more berbere if you want more heat. It usually needs more than expected. Taste it properly right at the end. Take the pot right off the heat. Let it stand for ten full minutes. Serving it is always done warm. Spoon it out onto a piece of injera. Spoon it onto one large injera. Arrange other fasting stews around it. It keeps four days refrigerated.

Technique

• The onions are cooked in a dry pot with no fat at all for a good twenty minutes until they collapse into a soft even mass with no distinct pieces left; only then does the oil go in. That is the defining Ethiopian technique — dry cooking drives the water out and the onions become the body of the sauce, where adding oil first would fry them into something quite different. Chop them very finely, since coarse pieces never break down.
• Berbere goes in in large quantity — four tablespoons is not a mistake, since it is the entire flavour of the dish — and must be cooked in the fat for five minutes, which transforms it from harsh and dusty into something deep. Keep the heat low and stir constantly, since burnt berbere makes the whole pot bitter.
• On Ethiopian Orthodox fast days no animal products are eaten and oil replaces the spiced butter niter kibbeh. There are a great many such days — Wednesdays, Fridays and long seasons — which is why Ethiopian cooking has so large a vegan repertoire; it comes directly from the calendar rather than being a modern development.

Substitutions

• Niter kibbeh, the spiced clarified butter, replaces the oil on non-fasting days and gives a richer rounder result.
• Split red lentils are what this needs, since they collapse into a thick purée where whole lentils stay separate.

Variations

• It sits on almost every beyaynetu platter, being cheap, quick and always available.
• The quality of the berbere blend matters enormously to the result.
• It is better on the second day, and thickens as it cools.

History

Red lentils cooked with berbere and oil, the cheapest and most common fasting stew on the beyaynetu platter.

Frequently asked questions

What is Misir wat?

Misir wat is a soup & stew from Ethiopia: red lentils simmered in berbere; staple of fasting platters. Red lentils cooked with berbere and oil, the cheapest and most common fasting stew on the beyaynetu platter.

How long does Misir wat take to make?

Misir wat takes 20 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Misir wat?

Yes, within limits. Niter kibbeh, the spiced clarified butter, replaces the oil on non-fasting days and gives a richer rounder result. Split red lentils are what this needs, since they collapse into a thick purée where whole lentils stay separate.

What is the most important thing to get right in Misir wat?

The onions are cooked in a dry pot with no fat at all for a good twenty minutes until they collapse into a soft even mass with no distinct pieces left; only then does the oil go in. That is the defining Ethiopian technique — dry cooking drives the water out and the onions become the body of the sauce, where adding oil first would fry them into something quite different. Chop them very finely, since coarse pieces never break down.