African Chicken in Spicy Red Sauce

Beautiful BC's Note:

This recipe is from the October 2006 issue of Cooking Light. It's very tasty! The original recipe calls for using breast halves, drumsticks and thighs. I just used skinned, boneless breasts. Also, used olive oil instead of cooking spray. This is their description - " This flavourful Ethipian-inspired chicken stew uses Berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend. Store extra spice mix covered in a cool, dark place for up to two weeks. Use leftovers on Salmon, flank steak, or chicken for fiery flavour. Serve with basmati rice. **prep time includes marinating time *Additional tip*- MaidinAfrica suggested swirling a bit of plain yogurt on top just before serving so we tried that - it's really good and the contrast of colours swirled together makes for a very pretty presentation!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

Chicken

• 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions (2 medium)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
• 4 lemon wedges

Berbere (use 2 teaspoons)

• 2 tablespoons ground red pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

1. Berbere:.
2. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Yields 1/4 cup. Serving size is 1 teaspoons.
3. Chicken:.
4. Place chicken in a shallow dish; drizzle with juice, and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add olive oil. Add onion and garlic; cook 5 minutes (do not brown), stirring frequently.
6. Add 2 tsp Berbere, remaining 1/4 tsp salt, butter, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom, cook 1 minute.
7. Add wine, broth, and tomato paste; stir until well blended.
8. Add chicken mixture; bring to a boil.
9. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 50 minutes or until chicken is tender, turning chicken occasionally.
10. Stir in cilantro. Serve with lemon wedges.

Reviews

[Leggy Peggy]

Delicious! My daughter and I made this on two separate nights and were both thrilled with the results. To extend the number of servings, I added some diced zucchini in the last 20 minutes. Yummo!

[rpgaymer]

Wow, what a great recipe! Doro Tibs is my favorite Ethiopian dish, and this tastes very similar. I did have to use cranberry juice instead of wine though, as I got carded for the wine and left my ID at home so they wouldn't sell it to me! Next time I will use the wine, but it was a delicious dish even without it. I love the heat level especially - it has just the right amount for me. Thanks for sharing this.

[Chef Dudo]

So good! I made some small alterations due to personal preference. Used margarine instead of butter since I do not mix meat and dairy. Furthermore I used allspice instead of nutmeg and I "chickened" out on the berbere and used 1tbs cayenne pepper and 1tbs sweet paprika instead of the 2tbs ground red pepper. We had it over rice and it was perfect.
It freezes well too.
Thanks for posting.