I came across a recipe for Doro Wat, (Ethiopian Spicy Chicken) and decided to give it a whirl. Previously, I had made something akin to it, and it was an epic, inedible fail. It was just too spicy and bitter for me; and I love spicy and bitter, generally.
Reading the comments, I decided to use mostly shallots rather than onions. That decision was a good one. I baked the chicken thighs for 20 minutes, removed to a bowl, and proceeded with the recipe of browning the onions before adding the spices. I also used the last, sadly, of my brodo.
Here is the onion/shallot mixture draining a bit, as per a comment, and the onion/ginger/garlic juice that drained I poured over the thighs sitting in the bowl.
This is the berbere spice mixture. I couldn't find my cayenne pepper, so I used some dried and ground habanero pepper. Big no no!
The dish came together well, and had a good consistency and color. When I tasted the sauce, OMG it was SPICY. I'm a chili head, but this was over the top, hence the issue with the habanero pepper. I added a good squirt of honey and it tamed it a bit.
The chicken thighs went back into the pool, got coated with the sauce, and I put it in the oven for about 30 more minutes.
The final dish, served over rice was ok, not bitter, but plenty spicy. This was the first time, EVER, that the spice level bothered me and NOT BILL. Normally, I am not wimping out on spice, but this was just at the edge for me, and not in an addictive way.
I think cayenne would have been the way to go and use less than suggested. I had halved the recipe, but used almost 1 T of habanero pepper, instead of 1/2 T to start. So the error is strictly mine, not the recipe.
Would I make this again, not sure, it was a nice change from the usual chicken thigh dishes I keep in rotation. Bill really liked it, and went back for seconds, so perhaps it will make a return.
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