Sunday, January 16, 2011

Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Red Lentil Stew)

I bet you read, "Mesir WHAT???" 

Well, Mesir Wat is a Red Lentil Stew which is DIVINE!!!

This stew is served over rice and garnished with fresh cilantro.



This Sabbath was our Sabbath School's potluck. 

Our Sabbath School is reading "The One Year: Chronological Bible" which is in the New Living Translation version.  It's a beautiful way to read the Bible.

So what to bring to this potluck????

Baked Mac N Cheese?
Cottage Cheese Loaf?
Veggie Meatballs?

Then Tim remembers January 9th's reading when Esau sold his birthright to Jacob (Genesis 25:27-34)

"One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, 'I'm starved! Give me some of that red stew!'"

Ethiopia is very much a part of the Bible and so we thought...I wonder if Mesir Wat would have been somewhat like what Jacob had made???


A main spice ingredient is Berbere Spice which is a blend of 12 spices. We went to Fresh Market because a lot of the spices needed are not the typical found at Publix and you certainly cannot find Berbere pre-made. So we made our own.


We often make a red lentil Lebanese soup and LOVE IT so we were excited to make this dish and man did it deliver!!! So much flavor! We came home from potluck with a practically empty bowl and hardly any rice left. Now that we have our own Berbere spice blend...we'll be making this again. Next time being less modest with the red chiles! We love the spicy kick!!!

So if you're looking for a new dish and you like a little heat...I suppose you could tone down the heat, grab a recipe for Mesir Wat! It's super easy to make and completely vegetarian and actually vegan. The only part that is a little tough is getting the Berbere Spice mix. 

Marcus Samuelsson has a great spice mix and Mesir Wat recipe in his book, 

The Soul of a New Cuisine
(it's shown in the first picture of this post)

I leave you with one thought from Sabbath School today which was incredibly profound for me:

When God created the Earth. He DID NOT edit. He made US in HIS image. Again, He did NOT edit. This amazes me really. He made "us in his image male and female". Both genders in His image. I know we pick ourselves apart at times, but why, we are made in His image. So I hadn't really thought about God not editing. I typed this post and edited a ton.

God created and put His official stamp on it, "He saw that it was good". 

So next time you look in the mirror and wish you had straight hair, skinnier hips, less skin imperfections or whatever you may "wish"...KNOW that when God created YOU...He didn't need to edit because you're in HIS Image and He put His stamp on YOU.

xoxo
One Less



8 comments:

Mama Mimi said...

Mmm...sounds good! Would love the recipe!

Keyla-n-Jeremy said...

that does sound good right about now!! ;-) I keep saying I need to go buy a good Ethiopian cookbook and keep forgetting. Have you found a really good one? please share...hehe

I can almost picture us slaving over a great Ethiopian dish in the kitchen someday and our kids saying, "mom, can I have some pizza instead?"

Home Project Manager said...

You know....Ethiopian food turns out to be a cuisine we really like. We eat a lot of and cook at home Indian, Asian, Lebanese, Turkish etc. We love chickpeas, lentils, kale, and spicy flavors so this fits right in with what we already make at home. But seriously...they'll want pizza. haha! We eat a variety here at home and always trying new recipes here.

My friend has a friend who mentored us before signing on with an agency. She said when she brought her two children home they had made pancakes for them and they were not sure how to eat them. They ate their pancakes like injera which she thought was so cute! I don't think I would mind either. A pancake is soft and slightly spongy eh?

I will definitely post the recipes on here after work tonight. Promise!!! Now that we have the Berbere Spice...that meal is going to be one of the easiest meals ever! We make a red lentil Lebanese soup which is very similar just slightly different seasoning.

Keyla, we actually ordered...let me clarify, I made the mistake of ordering 2 copies of Marcus Samuelsson's cookbook. I would love to give you one! We've been trying to think of what we should do with this extra book. We're huge fans of Top Chef (we're wannabe foodies) and Marcus was a contestant we fell in love with when he was on before we even seriously thought about pursuing the idea of intl. adoption. He has a really good story it turns out. You all should check him out. His family adopted him from ET and they lived in Sweden. He now lives in NYC and has his own restaurant. His food captured us on Top Chef so maybe one day when we're in NYC again, we'll snag up a table at his place, "Red Rooster".

Ok...I need to go get ready for work....I am NOT motivated. haha!

xoxo

Home Project Manager said...
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Home Project Manager said...
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kera said...

THIS SOUNDS SOOOO GOOD!!! we are lentil lovers too so I would really enjoy the recipe!! we ate at greenlife last night and while perusing the foods behind glass there was a HUGE bowl of ethiopian berbere couscous and i instantly thought of you! love being on this journey with you and who insanely great you are at learning every nook and cranny you can about their culture! i love you!!

Keyla-n-Jeremy said...

Erika, that's really sweet of you to offer. I'll be happy to reimburse you for the copy, just tell me how much! I miss my Bravo & Food Network days! :( We made a lot of sacrifices when we started our adoption process and cable tv was one of them! But to say that I was addicted to food channels is such an understatement!!

Anyways, if you want to give me your email address I'll be happy to send you my mailing address. And again I'm happy to pay for it!

Hope you get motivated today...although with the rain and being MLK day, I'm afraid I can't offer much encouragement. It should be a stay-at-home day!!

Home Project Manager said...

Kera...that sounds yummy!!! I just had some cous cous yesterday...tim made a basic one and then kicked it up a notch to be southwestern...INSANE!

Keyla, UM...I have a better idea....how about a little "welcome home Ethan" love gift? I think that would be better. :)

About that motivation...it never came. It rained all day and I really wanted to work in PJ's today!!! Somehow, I don't think that would fly at the office. Oh well...PJs in the evening now!!!

xoxo