I cannot emphasis enough how much slow cookers make health meal prep easier. There are a ton of recipes and books out there that can inspire to use this contraption that has to come from heaven.The best part about these recipes is that you can cover every meal of the day (including dessert), every cuisine of the world with this $20 device.
Ethiopian food has been available pretty much every place I have lived. Los Angeles (Fairfax), Washington DC Metro Area (Silver Spring, U Street, West End Alexandria), and now Seattle (Central District). If you never had it before, I feel sorry for you. Ethiopian cuisine revolves around the use of some pretty bold spices. I would say it is similar to Indian cuisine, but it uses less cream (coconut or dairy). While the below recipe isn’t exactly like your neighborhood Ethiopian restaurant, it is pretty darn close.
http://sweetpeasandsaffron.com/2016/02/slow-cooker-ethiopian-chicken-lentil-stew.html
- If you want to start off the recipe in the morning, but do not have the time, prepare your ingredients the night before like I did.
The day before I prepared:
- 1 onion finely chopped (stores well in a ziploc bag in the fridge)
- 2 carrots and 2 celery stalks chopped into slices (stores well in a ziploc bag in the fridge) the original recipe says to peel the carrots, but it is not necessary
- 2 sweet potatoes chopped into cubes (again stores well in ziploc bag and do not peel)
- 5 cloves of garlic and a thumb size piece of ginger minced (ziploc)
- Spices blended in a small bowl
- 2 tablespoons of berbere (Ethiopian Mrs. Dash, available at Ethiopian markets or Amazon.com. This ingredient is mandatory)
- 0.5 a teaspoon of ground cardamom
- 2 teaspoons of paprika
In the morning also pull out:
- 1 19 ounce can of chopped tomatoes
- 3 chicken breasts (original recipe said 2, but mine were kind of small)
- 1 cup of dried green lentils rinsed
- 1 cup of chicken stock
2. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a hot pan then saute your chopped onion for 10 minutes. I throw on a little salt to help leech out the moisture.
While the onions are cooking down, throw everything besides the spices, ginger/garlic, and chicken in the slow cooker.
3. Once the onion seems cooked down and translucent, mix in the ginger/garlic and the spices and cook for 5 more minutes.
4. Once the onion mixture is done cooking, mix it with the contents of the slow cooker then nestle in the chicken in the mixture.
5. Cook on low for 8 hours. Mix in 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and half a lemon’s worth of lemon juice.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings 5.0 | |
| Amount Per Serving | |
| calories 396 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 7 g | 10 % |
| Saturated Fat 2 g | 9 % |
| Monounsaturated Fat 0 g | |
| Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g | |
| Trans Fat 0 g | |
| Cholesterol 59 mg | 20 % |
| Sodium 653 mg | 27 % |
| Potassium 709 mg | 20 % |
| Total Carbohydrate 53 g | 18 % |
| Dietary Fiber 11 g | 43 % |
| Sugars 13 g | |
| Protein 32 g | 64 % |
| Vitamin A | 270 % |
| Vitamin C | 29 % |
| Calcium | 8 % |
| Iron | 22 % |
Get Off Your Butt and Cook 