I was contemplating what to make for dinner last night and finally decided on some Ethiopian food.  I had a bunch of hardboiled eggs left over from a party over the weekend, which put me in mind of Doro Wat, the Ethiopian chicken dish that often includes hardboiled eggs.  On top of that, I had a batch of berbere in my freezer that wasn’t getting any younger.  To go with, I made some Ethiopian lentils, was was a snap since I pretty much always have some quick cooking red lentils around.

For the chicken, I sauted (in ghee) some red onions and chopped Anaheim chiles until soft, then through in some garlic and ginger, followed by a generous (probably 1/2 cup) of the berbere.  When that heated up I added around 1 cup of red wine and another of water, and threw in some boneless, skinless chicken thighs and cooked in until the chicken was tender.  Then I added some shelled hardboiled eggs and brought it up to temperature.  The part that’s a hassle is making the berbere, so whenever I do I tend to make a double or triple batch and freeze what ever is left over. 

The lentils went about the same.  Red onions, Anaheim, garlic and ginger, about 1/4 cup of berbere, 2 cups of split red lentils (the kind you use for Indian food) and water to cover and then some.  Cooked until the lentils were falling apart.  Remember as with any pulses or beans, don’t add any salt until they are soft, or they never will be.  Salt to taste at the very end. 

Not too shabby for a weeknight if I do say so myself.    I’ve got a little berbere left over still, which is just crying out for some lamb this weekend…