Mulu, our favourite Ethiopian cook, is sharing some of her cooking secrets with us.

Here is her recipe for DORO WAT: Spicy chicken and boiled egg stew (and you don't have to know which came first!).

Doro Wat is a most popular Ethiopian dish served on special occasions with injera and a side order of yoghurt or homemade cottage cheese. It can be eaten with bread or rice. This recipe serves 6.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
5 heaped tbsp chopped red onions
½ cup red pepper (berbere)
2 cups spiced butter (kibe)
¼ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp ginger
Salt to taste
½ cup t’ej or red wine
4 cups water
6 medium hard boiled eggs
1 medium lime

Preparation:

Remove skin from chicken, cut into pars and wash several times in water. Wash and cut lime into 4 pieces, add to a large bowl of water and soak chicken pieces. In a medium pan cook onions until golden brown. Don’t rush this! Add about ½ cup of water and stir. Add t’ej or wine. Add the spices and blend well. Add prepared chicken pieces and cook for about 40-60 minutes. Add more water and stir gently so as not to separate the meat from the bones. Add salt and stir. When sauce begins to thicken, sprinkle with black pepper. Add hard-boiled eggs to the sauce and serve hot.

Hot Chocolate with Coffee & Cinnamon

Serves 4

150 gm plain chocolate
400 ml / 1 1/2 cups milk
20 g cocoa powder
7 tbsp water
1 cinnamon stick
7 tbsp freshly brewed strong coffee

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Strain into a bowl, cover and leave to cool. To serve, reheat the mixture, whisking constantly, but do no allow it to boil. Tip: Preparing the chocolate in advance and then reheating it to serve makes it creamier and more aromatic.

From Cooking with Coffee by Lucas Rosenblatt, Judith Meyer & Edith Beckmann. New Internationalist Publications 2003