Name: Misir Wat (Misir wat)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Ethiopia
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon black peppercorns; 2 tablespoons neutral oil; Juice of ½ a lemon; 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped; ½ red onion, finely chopped; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 green finger chillies, finely chopped; 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil; ½ teaspoon korekima or 4 green cardamom pods, bruised; ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric; Ethiopian injera bread, to serve (optional); 3 cm (1¼ inch) ginger, chopped; 2 red onions, finely chopped; 7 garlic cloves, minced; 5 cm (2 inches) ginger, peeled and minced (1½ tablespoons); 4 tablespoons berbere; 1 teaspoon fine sea salt; 6 tablespoons finely chopped tinned tomatoes; 300 g (1½ cups) split red lentils, well washed; 1 garlic clove, sliced; ½ red onion, chopped; 125 g (½ cup) unsalted butter

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Nutmeg Trail

By Eleanor Ford

Published 2022

About

Two bewitching spice blends are at play here. The first is a spice-infused butter, used as both the base and finisher for the lentils to add richness and floral-eucalyptus notes from pods known as Ethiopian cardamom, korekima. The second is berbere, a chorus of ground chilli, onion, fenugreek and sweet spices. Ingredients vary from village to village but the end result is always fiery. I buy it pre-prepared as berbere production is highly ritualised, best made by wet ingredients being sligh