Lentil Chicken Stew

Name: Lentil Chicken Stew (Ads Abazi)
Cuisine: Egyptian
Ingredients: 8 chicken thighs, skin on and bone-in; 8 chicken thighs, skin on and bone-in; 8 chicken thighs, skin on and bone-in; 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) yellow lentils; 4 tomatoes, peeled; 4 tbsp butter or ghee; 4 medium yellow onions, chopped; 1 tsp ground cumin; 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley; 2 tsp dried mint; Sea salt and ground black pepper; Sea salt and ground black pepper; Toasted Arabic bread, to serve; 4 tbsp butter; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 1 tbsp ground coriander

Ads Abazi

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Egypt

By Suzanne Zeidy and Rawah Badrawi

Published 2026

About

The Abaza family trace their roots to Sharqiya in the Nile Delta. Legend has it that in the late 1800s, when unexpected guests arrived at the house, the matriarch hastily gathered whatever she found on hand: lentils, ghee, onions and chicken from the coop. The result was a velvety, decadent stew that became the family’s signature dish.

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs, skin on and bone-in
500 g (1 lb<

Africa
Egypt
Cairo
Main course
Low carb
Mediterranean

Method

Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Boil the lentils in salted water for 20 minutes until soft, then reserve about 125ml (4fl oz/½ cup) of the cooking liquid before draining the lentils. Blend the lentils together with the reserved cooking liquid until smooth and set aside. Purée the tomatoes separately and set aside as well.

In a wide-based saucepan, melt the butter or ghee