Sorry, I've made you all hungry! A lot of the recipies I use are adapted from a Linda Majzlik. She's done a series of books called A Vegan Taste of North Africa/East Africa/Greece/France/Mexico/India/Italy/Eastern Europe etc. There are about 10 of them and they are only £5.99 each and are fantastic, am working my way through them. I've got to be a bit inventive with veggie food as I despise Quorn and mushrooms and am allergic to peanuts and almonds but I love spicy foods. DH does black bean fajitas for us that are so hot they blow my head off, I love them.
So, adapted from A Vegan taste of East Africa, here's the Ethiopian spicy stew.
You need to make a hot Ethiopian spice blend first:
BERBERE-this is what gives it the unique taste, it uses a lot of store cupboard spices and is a bit fiddly but makes enough for 6 or 7 meals. I just store it in a spice jar and it keeps fine.
You'll need:
8 small dried red chillies(I've used fresh before)
8 cardoman pods, husked
6 cloves
1 teaspoon each of: paprika,cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds,coriander seeds,ground ginger, black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon of allspice berries
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
Put the chillies, cardoman, cumin, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorn, allspice and cloves into a small pan and heat very gently, stirring constantly. (stand back, the seeds have tendancy to pop). When you can smell it, remove it from the heat and grind to a powder. Add the paprika, ground ginger, tumeric and cinnamon and mix together.
FOR THE STEW (serves 4-6)
675g aubergines, diced
225g red lentils
1 large red onion, peeled and chopped
1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped
225g chopped tomatoes(she uses fresh, I use tinned)
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 inch piece root ginger, finely chopped
1 green chilli,deseeded and finely chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tomato puree
2 teaspoons berbere *(see above)
750ml vegetable stock
finely chopped coriander
Heat the oil then gently fry the aubergine, onion, ginger and garlic in a large pan for 10 mins, stirring frequently. Add the berbere and stir for around 30 seconds. Next add the tomatoes, lentils, tomato puree and stock. Mix and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer gently for 25 mins but stir frequently to stop the veg sticking to the pan. The stew should be quite thick when its done. Garnish liberally with coriander and serve either alone or with whatever you like-I often use rice and DH takes it to work and has with pitta bread.
Enjoy! x