My meatless doro wat, a popular Ethiopian chicken stew, is everything you'd want it to be: spicy, aromatic, hearty and loaded with yum.
To keep this stew as close to the original as possible, I used traditional Ethiopian flavor ingredients, including berbere, a powdered spice mix, and niter kibbeh, a spice-infused oil. Tofu stands in for chicken and mushrooms add texture and umami.
Serve this vegan doro wat with injera bread or rice for a meal you won't forget any time soon.
Table of Contents
What is doro wat?
Doro wat is a spicy chicken and egg stew with an appetizing, deep-red color. It's eaten across Ethiopia, where it's considered the national dish, and neighboring Eritrea. Like most Ethiopian food it has complex flavors and an enchanting aroma created by roasting onions until they are caramelized and smoky, then layering them with traditional spices.
I have long had a fierce love for Ethiopian food, and I'm lucky because my hometown of Silver Spring, Maryland, which borders Washington, D.C., is home to the largest Ethiopian population in the United States. We have our pick of dozens of restaurants that offer the most amazing and authentic Ethiopian and Eritrean food and stores that sell delicious spice mixes and freshly made injera bread.
Ethiopian food is very vegan-friendly but I've always been intrigued by the dishes that aren't, and especially by doro wat, which has both chicken and eggs. In 2011 I shared with you my vegan doro wat recipe, made with tempeh and mushrooms. I've since learned so much more about this cuisine and its flavors and I am confident that my updated vegan doro wat tastes as authentic as can be minus the meat.
This is a pretty easy dish to make if you have berbere and niter kibbeh on hand. I shared both recipes when I posted a bunch of Ethiopian recipes a few years back, including misir wat, shiro wat and tikil gomen. You can also buy berbere at any Ethiopian store or online, but niter kibbeh is made with butter so if you are strictly vegan you do have to make your own. My vegan niter kibbeh recipe uses olive oil and it is loaded with flavor.
Like many Ethiopian stews, doro wat begins with browning a lot of onions. Take your time to do this properly because the browned onions create that rich, savory flavor base and thicken the stew. To improve the texture of the tofu before adding it to the stew I boiled it first in a water bath. This easy step makes the tofu firmer without spending hours pressing it, and also gives it a lovely, springy texture. Try this technique with other tofu recipes, if you haven't already.
Recipe card
Vegan Doro Wat
Ingredients
- 16 oz extra firm tofu (no need to press. Cut into ½-inch chunks)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 medium onions (cut into large chunks)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (grated)
- 6 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup vegan niter kibbeh
- 2-3 tablespoons berbere
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 cups mushroom stock or vegetable stock
- 8 oz cremini mushrooms or button mushrooms (sliced)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons cilantro (chopped, for garnish)
Instructions
Boil tofu
- Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Add tofu cubes to it, return the water to a simmer, and let the tofu cubes simmer for 3-4 minutes. Strain them in a colander.
- Place the tofu cubes back in the dry saucepan or in a bowl and sprinkle the lemon juice over them. Mix and set aside.
Prep flavor base
- Place the onions, ginger and garlic in a food processor. Pulse 10-15 times to finely chop the onions. Do not process into a paste.
Make doro wat
- Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions to the pot with ¼ teaspoon salt. Saute the onions until they begin to brown. If they stick, add a tablespoon of water or so and scrape up any browned bits with the spatula.
- About halfway through, add the niter kibbeh to the pot and continue sauteing the onions until they are well-browned.
- Add the dry spices to the pot - berbere, sweet paprika, turmeric, ground cardamom, ground allspice and ground ginger.
- Stir the spices into the onions.
- Add two cups mushroom stock or vegetable stock to the pot. Mix thoroughly and bring to a boil. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Season with more salt as needed.
- Stir in the mushrooms and let them simmer in the sauce for a couple of minutes.
- Add the boiled tofu cubes to the pot. Mix well and bring back to a boil. Let the stew simmer another five minutes.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve.
Nutrition Information
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Marc Eliaert says
This is a fantastic recipe, i serve it to all my clients. Thank yoy so much. 🙏🙏🙏
Ron j says
I used this recipe with eggplant with spectacular results. Really loved the two flavor-base method! It really makes a difference. Restaurant quality stuff! I am NOT a vegan, but could easily eat vegan meals like this all day. Thanks so much for this darn fine recipe.
Vaishali says
So happy to hear, Ron. I agree the two flavor bases really kick this up. 🙂
SONYA GRIER says
Love this recipe, thank you for sharing!
Vaishali says
So happy to hear, Sonya!
Ester Ellen-Poe says
Recipe says 3 clove of green cardamom. I s that the same as 3 pods? I can’t find cardamom “cloves” anywhere! What would be the powdered cardamom equivalent amount? If you mean pods, are the seeds included? Also, recipe says reserve the niter kibbeh oil; reserve it for what and when?
Vaishali says
Yes, three pods. About 1/2 tsp of powdered. See step 3 for niter kibbeh.
Liz says
My goodness, thank you so much for this recipe. I'm half Ethiopian and just became a vegetarian and was googling vegan doro wat. What a treat to find this jewel of a website! I appreciate you sharing this recipe and just signed up to your newsletter! Many blessings
Ignis Orchidacea says
Thank you so much for posting a recipe like this! My boyfriend and I are not vegan but vegetarian and it is nice to see a veggie alternative to such a tasty dish. Really enjoyed it!
Anonymous says
This recipe looks very interesting! I plan to try it with a few modifications. Just wanted to point out that real Ethiopian doro wot does not contain tomato of any kind (fresh, paste, or otherwise). Although it is typical to find tomato in western recipes or restaurants whose patrons are mostly non-Ethiopian. The color comes from the berbere that is added.
Thanks for posting this looks like a quick, vegan alternative to a great dish!
Vaishali says
Miri, thanks.
Zengirl, I see what you mean. I tend to go for quick dishes most nights too-- this one's good for one of those rare slow days.
Prixie, Irene, Thanks.
Ellen, I will definitely post a Korean recipe soon. Stay tuned.
Jabs, thanks for the feedback-- homemade seitan and sweet potatoes in the doro wat sound wonderful.
JABS says
I made this last night with homemade seitan substituting for the tempeh, and eggplant and starchy sweet potatoes (I've only seen them here in Morocco) as the vegetables. It was a big hit!
Ellen L says
This looks incredible! I will make it with naan---too scared to try to make injera.
Can you make Korean food next? 🙂
Irene @ H.V.R. says
YUMMY! looks very delicious and enticing. I can't wait to try this one up.
Prixie says
I am salivating looking at this. Thanks for sharing such great recipes!
Zengirl @ Heart and Mind says
Vaishali,
I love Ethopian food but I have not much since my disaster to make injra! This sure looks yummy, I wished I had quality time to make this some day. With my 2 year old, I tend to go with tried and quick food.
Preeti
Miri says
I have heard a lot about Ethiopian food but never tried it. The flavoured butter seems like it would taste delicious!
Vaishali says
Laina, I do mean cloves, period. Cloves are a common spice-- you can see a picture here: . There's also garlic in the recipe and it's separately listed.
Laina says
This looks delicious!!! I read the ingredients and it says 3 cloves. I'm assuming you mean garlic?
I just recently found you blog and look forward to exploring more. 🙂
Thanks, Laina 🙂
Vaishali says
Skay, thanks!
Janet, yes, the niter kibbeh is an essential flavor building block in this dish and it needs that amount of oil to extract the flavor from all the spices. This recipe really makes a lot of doro wat-- I estimated the serving size at around 10 but 12 people could easily be satisfied by this amount without any additional side dishes-- so it really doesn't end up being a lot per person.
Manasi, you might want to try green peppers-- I think they'd be fabulous in here. Even carrots would be great.
Tibik, thank you, and hope you try it. 🙂
Mel, the tomato paste is very thick, so I would guess that it's pureed and sieved tomatoes that are then concentrated by taking out the water in them. It's a very thick paste--almost the consistency of creamy peanut butter.
Kalyani, Richa, Thanks!
Carol, glad that helped.
Jabs, the amount of spices in your store-bought berbere could be different than the powder I made, so I'd suggest you add a tablespoon, taste, and then add more if needed. And in future if you ever wonder how to substitute an ingredient you don't have, feel free to ask.
Divya, thanks!
divya says
omg...this is absolutely delicious..:)
JABS says
Your recipes always look so good, but for each recipe there are usually a few ingredients I can't get living in a small town in Morocco. But I think I could actually make this! I even have some berbere a friend brought me from Ethiopia. Approximately how much of it should I use?
Carol says
Vaishali, thanks for clearing that up for me. I did think the recipe said 16oz which is why I thought it couldn't be tomato paste (it's generally called tomato puree over here in the UK)as that would be a lot of tomato paste!! 🙂
Richa says
yumm.. i have never tried making ethiopian anything at home yet..the spices and combinations sound so familiar.. i have to give this a try.. thanks for posting the recipe Vaishali.. makes it so doable!Have a fun day!
Richa Hobby And More Food Blog
Kalyani's Platter says
looks delicious and lovely clicks ......
Mel says
This looks so delicious. I totally agree with your comment about Ethiopian and Indian food. I was amazed when I first made Ethiopian food as it tasted so incredibly unique but the spices were so similar to Indian cuisine. It's interesting to see that you have used oil instead of margarine for your nitter kibbeh. I will keep this in mind as a shortcut as nitter kibbeh prepared with margarine needs additional time to set.
Like Carol, I am sometimes confused about differences between food names in various countries and have always wondered about tomato sauce in US recipes. Are these tins of tomato sauce simply pureed/sieved tomatoes? If so, then it sounds like they are what Carol and myself refer to as tomato passata.
Manasi says
Wow! I love the color, I should try this with potatoes. Can u suggest any other vegetable? I am nt into eggplants or mushrooms 🙁
janet @ the taste space says
Wow - I just tried Ethiopian food recently so this really looks like something I want to try.. but do you really use 1/2 cup oil?
Skay says
Oooh this one I've got to try. I've always enjoyed this dish and never got around to trying it at home. Portobello mushrooms will make a nice addition. Thanks, Vaish!
Vaishali says
Carol, Thank you, and your questions are not ignorant at all. I am not sure what passata is, but the paste is a kind of tomato concentrate that's available in little cans here in the US. The amount in the recipe is six ounces-- I just realized it looks like 16 ounces in the recipe because of the way the fonts run together, and I'll change it. Tomato paste is like a thick version of ketchup, minus all the flavors added to it. If you can't get your hands on that, just add a cup of tomato puree.
Carol says
I love your recipes. Being from the UK I sometimes struggle with ingredient names as they often are called something different over here.
When you say tomato paste do you mean passata, ie sieved tomatoes? Over here tomato paste usually means tomato concentrate but that would be an rather large amount of tomato concentrate. Forgive my ignorant questions!!
I love the look of this dish and would love to try it.
Tibik says
You are my hero!! I have some berebere I got from the local ethiopian store here. I can't wait to try it.
Tibik