New York Wot

The Times Talk with Marcus Samuelsson inspired Mel to break out his African cookbook and try a quintessential Ethiopian dish: doro wot (chicken stew).

First Step: blending berbere, one of the key spices for many Ethiopian dishes.  Marcus offers a recipe that incorporates spices that can be found here in the States. 

Next Step:  using the berbere in a mix of butter, onions, chicken broth and wine to slowly stew the chicken pieces.  Dark meat is best since it absorbs the spice nicely and stays juicy.

After the stewing process was done, Mel was really pleased with the texture of the chicken but the sauce seemed a little watery.  Soooo, another cooking adventure: creating a roux.  Gradually mixing flour into melted butter creates a substance that thickens sauce without ruining the flavor.  Slowly but surely, the sauce took shape and looked more like the doro wot we've seen.  Victory!

As for the flavor, it came out well!  It didn't have quite as much spicy kick as other doro wot we have had, which we chalked up to the fact that the berbere blend had chili powder rather than freshly ground dried chilies.  (If we ever see a bag of those in a store, we'll grab them immediately!)  But it was still really tasty chicken, so we decided to dub it "New York Wot."

Bonus Feedback:  DJ's parents and Sara were kind enough to drive us home from Connecticut so they could check out the new place.  So we shared the New York Wot with them, and they really enjoyed it.  Hooray!  Will definitely be using Marcus's cookbook regularly.