When I went to Ethiopia, I visited during the Lent period and many restaurants were serving vegan platters. This was great for me since I love the flavours of vegan and vegetarian Ethiopian food. The fishes contain a mix of lentils, chickpeas, and many kinds of vegetables flavoured with fragrant spices. This recipe for gomen wat is a simple Ethiopian vegetarian dish made from greens cooked with flavourful spices, garlic, ginger and chilies. It is a combination of a number of recipes I found on the internet, adjusted to my taste. In fact, when I ate this dish it reminded me of the greens and spinach dishes I had in Ethiopia.
Most of the ingredients are easy to find in London. However, niter kibbeh (Ethiopian clarified butter) was quite expensive so you can use oil, ghee or unsalted butter as a replacement. Usually in Ethiopian cooking, there are many different dishes served with injera, a sour, spongey bread. The Ethiopians eat with their hands and tear pieces of injera to pick up the different dishes. When I made this recipe for gomen wat, I also made shiro wat (seasoned chickpea flour) and misir wat (spiced red lentils).
Ingredients
4 bunches of collard greens
2 chopped onion
4 large cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp minced ginger
3 jalapeño peppers, de-seeded and chopped
40 ml niter kibbeh (Ethiopian clarified butter)
50 ml vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
2 black cardamom pods
1 cinnamon bark
pinch ground nutmeg
1 tsp smoked paprika
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
First, pull the leaves off the collard greens and discard the stems. Then tear the leaves into medium-sized pieces and wash them well. Next, bring a large stockpot of salted water to boil. Add the collard greens and cook for about 15 minutes. The collard greens should be soft. Drain the greens and rinse with cold water. Then squeeze out excess water, and chop the greens into small pieces. Set aside.
Next, in a frying pan, cook the onions in vegetable oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes when they start to turn translucent. Add the niter kibbeh and cook for several minutes. Then add the garlic, ginger, and jalapeños and sauté for several more minutes. Add the chopped greens and mix well. Finally, add salt, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and paprika and cook over medium-low heat for another 15-20 minutes. Season with ground black pepper to taste. Remove the cinnamon and cardamom before serving.
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