Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Red Lentils)

Debbie R.'s Note:

This is from whats4eats.com. I haven't tried it yet. You can also use butter or niter kibbeh (spiced butter) instead of the olive oil. Serve with injera. You tear off a small piece of it and use that to scoop up the mesir wat. If you can't get ahold of injera and just want a healthy lentil dish, you could always put it over rice.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 teaspoons gingerroot, peeled, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (can go up to 2 T.)
• 1 lb red lentil
• 4 cups water (or stock)
• salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Puree onion, garlic, and ginger in a food processor or blender.
2. Heat oil, butter or niter kibbeh in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add turmeric, paprika and cayenne pepper and stir rapidly to color oil and cook spices through, about 30 seconds. Add onion puree and sauté on medium heat until excess moisture evaporates and onion loses its raw aroma, about 5-10 minutes. Do not burn.
3. Add lentils and water. Bring to a boil and simmer till lentils are cooked through and fall apart, about 30-40 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep from drying out. This should be the consistency of a thick paste so that it can be scooped up with injera.
4. Stir in salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Reviews

[chloebe]

This came out delicious! The only thing is it took about 1.5 hours to boil off the liquid, but maybe my proportions were slightly off.

[evelyn/athens]

Such a tasty way to do red lentils. Not having injera, I made do with arabic pita bread. Thanks.

[Rita~]

This was the main for our delish Menu #66720. I used Niter Kibbeh--Ethiopian Spiced Clarified Butter
for the oil kicking it up a little more. Scooped it up with Injera. A nice healthy meal. Thanks. Made for ZWT 2011.