Fantastic misir wot recipe! Spicy stewed Ethiopian lentils made with berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend. Simple and delicious to make at home.
Well, we have reached the END of the Global Feasts Ethiopia series! Did you catch them all? Not too many this time around eh? Yeah, it was a small one. BUT....... I still have this one to share. THIS MISIR WOT!
Misir wot is an Ethiopian lentil stew made with berbere and niter kibbeh and served shared with injera. I got a little craaaaaaazy and added some yellow cherry tomatoes to the recipe. I also had to resort to clarified butter because I didn't have niter kibbeh. Ah well..... still freakin delicious guys!
Now that the feast is over, I am dreaming of having another Ethiopian meal. There aren't any Ethiopian restaurants in Olympia, but I am totally on board with making my own dishes now. I'll probably wait until this insane heat wave is over (100 degrees in June WHAT!), since I refuse to turn on my oven this week. But I have quite a bit of berbere left, and am super into using it as my new go to chile powder for curries and stews. It's just so tasty!
- 6 Tablespoons clarified butter or niter kibbeh, divided
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 4 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 3 Tablespoons berbere, divided*
- 1½ cups dried red lentils
- 2 cups yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
- 3-5 cups water
- Salt
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the clarified butter or niter kibbeh in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add both onions and cook until brown, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
- Add 3 tablespoons of the clarified butter or niter kibbeh, and garlic. Stir to combine and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the berbere. Stir to combine and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add the lentils. Stir to combine and toast for about 1 minute.
- Add the cherry tomatoes and 3 cups water. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until lentils are soft, about 45 minutes. You may need to add more water if lentils become dry before soft.
- When lentils are soft, add the remaining 1 tablespoon clarified butter or niter kibbeh and berbere. Season with salt.
- Serve with injera
*Check out the recipe for homemade berbere.
Well, what did you think of the Ethiopian feast?
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Hope you enjoy these spicy Ethiopian lentils! 
Trish
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The Gourmet Gourmand
This is so awesome!! I am so addicted to Ethiopian. I definitely plan to try this one.
Patricia Bozeman
Thank you! Let me know how it turns out!
Clara Meister
This was the first Ethiopian dish I ever tried to make. It was fantastic!! Super easy and sooo delicious. Do you have an injera recipe that you like to use?
Patricia Bozeman
Awesome Clara! So glad you liked it! I actually have never made Injera. You can get it from a local market here in Seattle for about $0.50 a piece. I need to try to make it someday! Did you make your own berbere?
Clara Meister
Oh I'm jealous about the injera. I made mine using this recipe: https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/recipe-injera.html but I switched the proportions for teff and regular flour. Came out pretty well but much darker than other injera I've seen. And no, I was too lazy to make my own berbere haha. I've tried a few though and the Frontier brand one is definitely the best!
Robyn Gleason
Ohhh, I love Ethiopian flavours. I will definitely try this dish.
Patricia Bozeman
Let me know how you like it!
Hillary
Do you make your own injera? I've served Ethiopian red lentils with sourdough bread which is really tasty, but sometimes I crave the spongy, thin consistency of injera! 🙂
Patricia Bozeman
I haven't made my own injera! I would love to someday, but I got the injera for this at a local Ethiopian market. Only $1.00 per piece! A steal!
Christine
I haven't had Ethiopian food since college. I have to try this!
Patricia Bozeman
You totally should! Let me know if you do!
goodiegodmother
Pinned! Because I love love Ethiopian and really want to try making it at home <3
Patricia Bozeman
Awesome! Let me know what you think!
Barbara J
I pinned too. I always loved Ethiopian food and recently started cooking it myself. I found lots of recipes online that were really helpful and Ethiopian spices such as berbere and shiro from http://www.fassica.com. It's been a great experience. I'd say my favorite food is now spicy Misir wot