My friend, Karen requested the recipe for the stew I made yesterday. I adapted the recipe from Eating Well magazine so it is Ethiopian-ish. They used chicken thighs (2 1/2 pounds), no cabbage, and cooked it in a crock pot (7-8 hours on low) after cooking the onions, garlic, and ginger on the stove top. They did not brown the meat but I think it would be better that way. I cooked mine in a 5 quart braising pot, an Emile Henry porcelain pot I bought myself with Christmas money. A Crueset enameled iron pot or Dutch oven would also be fine. I also used beef instead of chicken thighs because I don’t like chicken thighs and white meat would dry out. I think it would be excellent with lamb.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter + 2 teaspoons oil
2 pounds boneless chuck roast, cut into stew sized pieces
4 cups chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
5 tablespoons berbere spice (I don’t know if it is the best, but I use this one. I just use the whole packet.)
1 1/2 cups red lentils
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger (If you have one of those Asian rasp style graters, that works well.)
1 head cabbage, cut into large chunks
28 ounce can of diced or crushed tomatoes with their juice
1/2 cup dry red wine
2 cups water, chicken, or beef broth
1. Heat butter and oil in the braising pot over medium heat (I use less than the recipe calls for to cook the onions and reserve a little for later to sear the meat). Cook onions until soft, translucent, and starting to brown, 10-20 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and cook about 2 minutes until fragrant. Add berbere spices and cook another few minutes until fragrant. Remove onion mixture from pot and set aside.
2. Raise heat to medium high, add a little oil, and brown beef in 1-3 batches. When completed pour in 1/2 cup wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan by stirring up the delicious burned bits from the bottom.
3. Remove pot from heat. Add onions and beef into the pot. Then add the rest of the ingredients in the following order, lentils, cabbage, tomatoes with juice, and water/broth.
4. Cover and cook in oven at 325 degrees for 2 1/2-3 hours. Stir before serving and season to taste.
My Eyes Are Up Here 
Thanks Liz! This sounds very yummy! I looked up Berbere spice recipes and I found quite a few recipes, all very similar. This is what I cobbled together…
8 t chile pwdr or 2 T cayenne pepper
5 t sweet paprika
2 t salt
1 t coriander
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t cardamom
1/2 t fenugreek
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 allspice
1/8 t cloves
1/2 t cinnamon
1 t pepper
2 t cumin
If you were using seeds then you toast them until aromatic oils are released and then grind in a spice grinder or just mix together powders.I am sure Ethiopian cooks have their favorite way of spicing their food so hopefully it won’t be way off in taste? These are my favorite spices (don’t have fenugreek so will have to buy) so am excited to try this! And another lentil recipe too!
Ooops! Ginger ingredient should not be written twice…!
P.S. I did try making this stew in a crock pot but did not like the texture as much as when I cooked it in the oven. The lentils got a little mushy. I had also made it with tilapia filets for my veg-aquarian friends. The texture of the fish was also not entirely to my liking. Have fun!
I love roasting the seeds before grinding, especially cumin and coriander. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.
This sounds good. Did you use red or green cabbage? I could see trying it with spinach or kale, too.
I used green cabbage because I had one to use up. I could see red either making it look prettier or uglier depending on how much the color bled into the other ingredients during the long cooking process. I think kale or chard would be really good; they are substantial greens that benefit from long cooking. I love spinach but I wonder if it is too tender to cook for hours. But I’ve never tried it, so who knows? Let me know how your versions turn out!
Yum! Can’t wait to taste it.